Tensai, Tensai, Tell Me Why
by stophoggingtheblanket
Summary: A new girl enrolls in Seigaku. What with studies, and sports, and a certain tensai, how will she cope with life in Japan?
1. Newbie

_Disclaimer : No matter how much I wish it, I don't own Prince of Tennis. _

_Do read, and enjoy. (At least, I hope it won't be a torturing process... will it?)_

_Review!_

**Chapter 1**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why_

_Blue orbs lurk behind closed eyes_

Fuji Syuusuke beheld the wonder with disbelieving eyes.

"It's beautiful," he breathed. His hand caressed the delicate petals tenderly. The exquisite little flower that was sitting in the middle of the room soaked up all the admiration with no apparent modesty.

_Click. Click. Click_. The camera's shutter was going at a furious speed.

"Nee-san! Yuuta!"

-----------------------

"It's beautiful, isn't it, Yuuta?"

"Marvelous," He replied grumpily. To be woken up at such an unearthly hour just for a stupid cactus flower...! His aniki was plainly crazy. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

--------------------------------

"Mom, can't I just stay at home and study on my own?"

"No dear, you can't. Stop fidgeting. We're almost there."

The car pulled into the car park. The school was absolutely teeming with students.

"I _knew_ I shouldn't have chosen this school..."

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"Your class is 3rd grade class 6. Just turn left down this corridor. It's the second class on the right."

"T-thank you."

"Thanks, Mr. Gateshi." Her mom turned to her. "Just try your best to get over your first-day-of-school nerves and you'll be fine."

She snorted. What first-day-of-school nerves? Palpitations, more like. "Bye, mom."

-------------------------------------

She stood outside the classroom, her heart going as if she had just set a world record in the 100m race. Her knees were shaking. _Take a deep breath... count to three..._ And the teacher saw her. _Uh-oh. Judgement day is here._

She walked in as confidently as she could and handed the teacher the note the principal gave her.

"Class, we have a new girl here. Her name is..." The whole class fell silent as the teacher waited for her to complete the sentence.

She observed the foreign noises coming out of the teacher's mouth with a bemused detachment. The headmaster had obviously forgotten to write that she didn't know Japanese.

She was startled out of her reverie by the sudden silence. "Huh? Pardon?"

"What is your name?"

She heard the word _na-ma-e_ and hoped for the best. "Oh! Uh... Darika Shyoko."

"Class, let's welcome Darika-san!"

As one, the class rose to their feet. "Hajimemashite, Darika-san!"

"Uh... yes! Thank you!" She turned to the teacher. "Sir, I can't speak Japanese!" She whispered furiously to the teacher.

"Nani? Nihongo ga wakarimasen?"

The whole class goggled at her. She didn't _know_ Japanese?

Meanwhile, the teacher was trying to figure out a solution to this problem. He turned to the class. "Does anyone here know English?"

He was met with blank stares. Eiji hesitantly volunteered, "Ochibi knows English."

There was an instant uproar.

"But she's in _our_ class!"

"No one knows how to speak English, so – "

"Why'd she come to Seigaku, anyway, if she doesn't know Japanese?"

"...I'll look after her." A soft untroubled voice cut through the general noise. Everyone stopped talking at once and turned to the brunette who had spoken.

"You know English?" There was a faint glimmer of hope in the teacher's voice.

"Yes." The blue-orbed tensai said serenely, seemingly unaware of the fact that most people were staring at him as if he had just sprouted another head.

The expression on the teacher's face clearly said that salvation had come early. He turned to Shyoko. "You is Fuji-kun sit next by. He English spik good."

She slowly deciphered the teacher's message. "Okay. Thanks!" She flashed the teacher a grin. "Which one is he?"

---------------------------------------

She walked to her seat, giving the honey-haired boy next to her a quick glance.

"May I sit here?"

"Sure!" he smiled disarmingly. "It's Maths now."

Her face lighted up. She loved Maths. Anticipating the familiar thrill of solving equations, she opened her bag eagerly – and stared at her books in dismay. The titles were all in Japanese! How was she ever going to find anything?

She peeked at the cover of the book on the desk behind her. _Okay. Red background with yellow...abstract art?_ She found it and took out the rather garishly coloured book. _Well, the questions should still be in numbers, so I shouldn't have any problems._ She flipped open the book. And there, where page number 1 should have been, was 221 in huge numbers staring right back at her! _What the – _

"It's page 96," The brunette (she couldn't for the life of her remember his name) said helpfully. Except of course that it wasn't at all helpful since she had absolutely no idea where page 96 was. She flipped the pages randomly, trying not to look so lost.

_Hey, the page numbers are decreasing! So that means..._ She smacked herself on the head and turned straight to page 96.

Just her luck. They were solving word problems today. In Japanese.

---------------------------------

The moment the teacher went out of the class, the noise level increased markedly. People chattered animatedly around her in Japanese. Even the boy next to her was speaking gobbledygook to another boy.

"Ohayo gozaimasu! Watashi wa Kadoku Norae!" A hand was extended to her.

She shook the girl's hand and smiled politely. _Whatever she said.._

"Hi! I'm Fuji Syuusuke." The brunette next to her extended his hand.

The class was now crowding around her, clamouring to be introduced. She shook their hands one by one, a polite smile pasted on her face.

"Nice to meet you, Darika-san." He grinned.

"Darika-san? Why'd you tack a -san onto my name?"

"It's common practice here in Japan."

"At home, people always called me Shyoko, though." She frowned. "I think you'd better call me that if you want me to respond. By the way, what's your name again?"

"Fuji Syuusuke."

"And I call you...?"

"Most people here call me Fuji-kun, but as you seem to think it's unnatural," he said with an amused smile, "you can call me Fuji."

"Okay, Fuji."

--------------------------------------

The next subject was Japanese. Shyoko opened the book and stared at the pages blankly. Other than the page numbers, nothing made sense to her.

"You really don't know Japanese, huh?" Fuji, who had been observing her, remarked.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" She kept her voice down to a minimal level so as not to attract the teacher's attention.

"Not a single word?"

"Well, I do know 'baka', but that's about all."

Whereupon Fuji immediately burst into stifled laughter.

"Shhhh!!!" She frantically shushed him.

The teacher, much to her relief, only gave him an odd look.

"You nearly got us caught!"

"Baka!" He choked out, still trying to recover from his fit of the giggles.

"Shhhh!"

---------------------------------------------

The rest of the day went somewhat better. English was the last period. She had thought that it would be her favourite subject, but she was wrong. It was boring. Very boring. How exciting is it to read "The Green-Spotted Pig" over and over again? She had finished the book in five minutes.

She glanced over at the next table, and noted with some surprise that Fuji was reading the book with great interest. _I thought he would have been ahead of this already._ He flipped the page, affording her a better view of what he was doing.

"You're reading Charles Dickens?!"

He looked up and swiftly brought the book to the edge of the table, letting the thick volume fall onto his lap. Underneath it was Enid Blyton, and he looked for all the world like he had been reading it a few moments ago.

"Clever." She commented. He turned around.

"Oh, it's you! I thought it was teacher." He smiled. "Yeah, I guess I found a way to spice up my English lessons. You bored?"

"Bored out of my wits." Came the deadpan answer. "Fuji, could you do me a favour?"

"Depends. What is it?"

"Just tell me how to get from the classroom to the main gate."

He arched an eyebrow. "That's a funny request."

"I need to get home, _remember_?"

"Oh, right." He smiled. "Just get caught in the stream of students rushing home and they'll carry you straight to the gate."

"..."

--------------------------------

"Nee-san, I'm home!" Fuji came into the house.

"Syuusuke! How was school?" Yumiko greeted him.

"I met a new girl today."

"Is she pretty?" Yumiko had always been obsessed with beauty.

Fuji mentally reconstructed an image of Shyoko. Dark brown curls messily gathered into a ponytail, oval face, sea-green eyes... "Quite. She can't speak Japanese."

"Can't speak Japanese?!" Her incredulous tone said it all. "Then why'd she enroll in Seigaku?"

The tensai shrugged. He looked at the food on the table.

"Ne, nee-san, is there any wasabi to go with this?"

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_Hope you liked it! ;P_


	2. Of blunders and ballpens

_Thanks for all the reviews! You people are really great!_

_I'm now recovoring from exam stress, which leads me right into post-exam depression... Scary, huh? The day after our exams end, and we start getting back our papers..._

_Anyway, enjoy!_

**Chapter 2**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_Cherry lips curve into a smile of joy_

The next morning, Shyoko arrived full of zest for life. After much pointing, she eventually found her way to her classroom.

"Hey, Fuji!" She slung her bag onto the chair. He smiled by way of greeting. "I learnt one of the most basic words in Japanese yesterday!"

"Shoot."

"Aishiteru."

Fuji, who was drinking water, choked and started laughing fit to burst.

"What's so funny?"

"Do you know what you just said?"

"...'I'? 'Me'?..."

"You just confessed your undying love for me."

"_What?!!_" She spluttered, her fists clenched. "Why, the nerve of that dirty dog, trying to trick me...!"

"What dirty dog?" Fuji asked, amused.

"That – that Atobe guy!"

Fuji's eyes flew open, revealing eyes an unearthly shade of blue. "Atobe Keigo?"

But she was not paying attention to him. "Your eyes! They're so..." She paused. "...blue."

He quirked an eyebrow at her novel way of describing his eyes. "So, how do you know him?"

"Him? Oh, right... Atobe. He's my neighbour. Why?"

"He's one of Seigaku's biggest rivals." Fuji shrugged. His eyes were closed again. "Didn't know he could speak English."

"He can't. At least, not very well."

"Then how did you learn that from him?"

"Oh." She grinned impishly. "It involved a lot of pointing and hand gestures. He kept pointing to himself, so I figured it meant 'me'. Of course, he did point at me once or twice, but I assumed that was to make sure I was following him."

"Figures." Fuji commented lightly. _Atobe always loved himself best._

"Fuji?" He was jolted out of his thoughts.

"Hmmm?"

"How do you see with your eyes closed?"

----------------------------------

It was English again. But this time, Shyoko was not bored. She was bending low over her book, and Fuji wondered what was so interesting.

"What are you doing?" He asked curiously.

She started guiltily, quickly slipping something under her book. But she wasn't fast enough. Fuji caught the glint of a mirror.

_Never thought she'd be one of those vain ones._

He resumed reading. She, too, resumed her own private activity. Whatever she was doing, it definitely wasn't going too well, judging from the disgusted sighs coming from the general direction of her table.

"Fuji?"

He looked up. "Yes?"

"How do you close your eyes?"

You don't _know_ how to close your eyes?!" He exclaimed.

"No! I mean, how do _you_ close your eyes? How do you make them curve upwards like that?"

"Oh." He shrugged. "Smile more."

"I've tried. It doesn't work."

"You mean all this while you were making faces at yourself?"

"Not making faces!" She protested. "I just thought it would be interesting. I've never met someone who could close their eyes so consistently without bumping into anything, let alone curving them upwards."

He laughed. "It curves naturally. "

She was extremely indignant. "Are you trying to imply that I can't?"

"I don't know, but you're free to try as long as it keeps you entertained."

"!!!"

------------------------------

"Darika-san?" Fuji turned to her.

There was no response.

"Darika-san." He repeated a little louder.

Still no reaction.

"Darika-san." He tried a third time.

Shyoko looked up and asked blankly, "Who are you calling?"

Fuji lost it entirely. He started laughing uncontrollably, not stopping even when she gave him a quizzical look. Her question of "What's so funny?" just made him laugh harder than ever.

"You – don't – even know – your own – name!" He gasped out.

"You were calling _me_?" The look on her face sent him into fits of laughter again. "Darika-san... Darika-san... oh!"

Realisation, as well as the hilarity of the situation dawned on her. Soon she was laughing almost as hard as Fuji, holding her sides. Together they made a very odd pair, causing others to burst into spontaneous laughter at the sight of them.

"I _told_ you to call me Shyoko..." She wiped away tears of mirth.

"Oops..."

"Anyway, what did you want?"

He stared at her uncomprehendingly. "Oh, right. If you can't speak Japanese, then why'd you enroll in this school?" He repeated Yumiko's question to her.

"Oh, _that._ Don't worry about it," Shyoko said airily. "I've always had a knack for languages. Just you wait. In two weeks time, I'll be speaking Japanese as fluently as you!"

_So, I'm sitting next to a language tensai? Interesting..._

-----------------------------------

Surprisingly enough, Shyoko's prediction came true. After two weeks of sleeping, eating and breathing Japanese, she could converse in Japanese like a native. And although her reading and writing skills weren't as good as her conversational Japanese, she was progressing by leaps and bounds.

"See? I told you!" Shyoko announced proudly to Fuji.

His ever-present smile stretched wider. She even had the usage of the –kun suffix down pat, but she still refused to call him Fuji-kun.

"Some things should be left as they are," had been her enigmatic reply when questioned about the proper usage of his name.

She did, however, tend to make occasional blunders.

_Flashback _

"_Darika-san. Mira-san wa doko desu ka."_

_She looked at the picture, showing a person walking in a garden. The answer was straightforward enough. _

"_Mira-san wa niwatori desu." She answered confidently._

_There was stunned silence for a moment before the whole class erupted into laughter._

_She turned to Fuji, demanding an explanation. _

"_You said – Mira-san – was in – the – chicken!" He choked out between laughter._

"_WHAT?!!"_

_End flashback_

Her rapidly developing Japanese also expanded her interactions with others, which had previously been limited to him alone. In the same short period of two weeks, she had also collected a circle of friends. She normally ate lunch with a group of guys and girls, while in class she sat next to the honey-haired tensai himself.

Cherry lips curled into a mesmerising smile. Shyoko was always incapable of being moderate. She was either at one end of the spectrum or the other. Though the starry-eyed girl would never admit it, he was sure her life was exhausting. Being on a high and crashing down to the dumps in the same day definitely drained a lot of energy. How she managed to get through life with her attitude was one of the few mysteries the blue-orbed boy could not unravel.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Slender fingers waved in front of him, demanding his attention. "I asked if I could borrow your pencil."

He smiled. "Sure."

"And an eraser. And maybe a pen as well." She added as an afterthought.

His eyebrows shot up. "What happened to yours?"

"I...left my pencil box at home." She muttered shamefacedly. "Anyway, it's just stationery."

"Stationery doesn't appear out of thin air." He reminded her.

"It just did." She grinned mischievously, twirling a pencil between her fingers. His pencil, to be exact.

"..."

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_Review!_


	3. Tennis time

_Hey guys! Thanks for reviewing! I hope you like this chapter..._

**Chapter 3**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_You look like the cat who's gotten into the pie_

"Regulars! Gather around!" The team crowded around Ryuuzaki-sensei, expecting the usual after-practice talk. "There is an important announcement this week. Inui, please explain."

Everyone turned to Inui. "Seigaku is entering a pair for the mixed doubles event in the Kantou prefectorial tournament this year."

As he had predicted, stunned silence greeted his announcement before a noisy babble broke out.

"Mixed doubles?!"

"The tournament's only two months away! How can they do it on such short notice?"

"...who's playing?"

They looked expectantly at Inui.

"The girls' team have already chosen their representative. After researching not only your playing styles, but also your personalities and experience in playing doubles," here Momoshiro shot Ryoma a surreptitious glance, "I have selected Fuji to enter this event."

The waves of shock at this announcement reverberated around the room, but Fuji's expression never changed.

"But he's second singles, nya!" Eiji protested vehemently, trying to save his best friend from the awful fate of playing doubles with a _girl_.

Ryuuzaki-sensei cut in. "The mixed doubles is not a team event, so Fuji will still be playing second singles. There's nothing to worry about. I've seen her play, and she plays tennis very well – maybe even better than some of you here."

Snorts of disbelief were heard around the room, unanimously proclaiming that girls could never beat boys, especially not in tennis.

She sighed. Sometimes the regulars could be so juvenile. A string of rapid knocks jolted them all out of their discussions.

Ryuuzaki-sensei smiled. Maybe the new girl would be able to teach them a thing or two... "She's here."

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She stepped gracefully into the room, tennis bag slung casually over one shoulder. Shutting the door behind her, she turned.

Brilliant azure orbs snapped open. "Shyoko?!"

"Fuji!" She couldn't believe what she was seeing. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know you played tennis!" His voice was incredulous.

"They obviously don't need any introduction..."

"But the rest of you do, nya!"

Shyoko turned. "Eiji, you're in the tennis club _too_?"

Ryuuzaki-sensei stepped out amidst the growing confusion. "This is Darika Shyoko. She's going to play mixed doubles, as all of you know by now."

"Hajimemashite, Darika-san!" They chorused.

Before they could get any further, she interrupted, "Call me Shyoko."

"Tezuka Kunimitsu." She shook his hand, feeling rather like she was shaking an iceberg.

"Oishi Syuichiro. Dozo yoroshiku." A boy with black hair stepped forward.

"Kikumaru – "

" – Eiji. Yes, I know."

"Nya! You took away all the fun!" He pouted.

A quiet, retiring guy came in front. Eiji, seeing an opportunity for mischief stuffed a racquet into his hand.

"BURNING BABY KAWAMURA TAKASHI!!! DOZO YOROSHIKU!"

She took a step back. "Uh... pleased to meet you too."

"Inui Sadaharu." His glasses glinted evilly. _Another one to torture..._

"Kaidoh Kaoru."

A spiky-haired boy offered his hand. "Momoshiro Takeshi."

"Echizen Ryoma." She could hardly see his face, hidden by the white cap.

"So who's my partner?"

She followed their gazes to... Fuji.

"_You're_ my partner?!"

He simply smiled.

"...oh, man!"

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"Oishi and Eiji, practise doubles with Momoshiro and Ryoma."

The latter two looked at each other. "_Doubles?!!"_

"Kaidoh and Kawamura. Singles. Fuji and Shyoko, follow me." Ryuuzaki-sensei led them to the courts at the far end.

"Today, you two will play a game against each other. Get to know each other's playing style, strengths and weaknesses." She left them staring at one another.

"_Me?_ Play against _you_?" Shyoko was clearly horrified. Why, just yesterday the regulars had filled her in on Fuji's talents, and the thought that she had to face him was not very comforting.

His usual smile grew a bit wider. "Afraid, Shyoko?"

"Of course not!" She retorted instantly, ignoring the small voice in her brain telling her that her doom was nigh.

"Well then, let's start. You serve." He tossed the ball to her, effectively sealing the match.

----------------------------

Shyoko got into position, feeling the familiar thrill rush through her.

"Love all. Shyoko to serve."

She tossed the ball high into the air before bringing her racquet down to score an ace.

"Not bad..." Fuji murmured, his smile growing.

They played in long rallies, each probing, testing the other's strengths. He noted that her style seemed to adapt to take advantage of any opportunities she got, both attacking and defending. She was hard to read, he had to admit that much. Her ability to change between a defensive style and more offensive play was one of her talents.

Shyoko, on the other hand, did not analyse the game quite as much as Fuji, relying more on instinct to tell her what to do. Decisions were made the moment before her racquet touched the ball.

"Five games to four. Fuji leads. Change court."

When he first used Tsubame Gaeshi, she was utterly at a loss as to how to return it. But after being on the receiving end of it two more times (and nearly losing a game in the process), she managed to return it to the far end of the court.

It was at forty- fifteen when she fought back, drawing even with him.

"Game point. Fuji to serve."

She hit his serve back with an extraordinary smash. Using the spin he had created with his serve and a flick of her wrist just as the ball came into contact with her racquet strings, the ball sped towards him in a blur of colour. His eyes flew open as the ball suddenly swerved away from him, forcing him to dash to reach it. He barely made it, causing the ball to go over the net in a high lob.

She saw the opportunity, and she pounced.

"Five games all. Change court."

He unleashed Higuma Otoshi.

"Game, set and match to Fuji."

She threw herself down on the bench, taking a long drink of water.

"Good game. You might need to work on your stamina a little, though."

"You weren't playing seriously, Fuji." Her legs felt like lead, and her breath was coming in short gasps. "If I ever had to play you full strength..." She shuddered.

Inui came up to them. "I've drawn up a special menu and training schedule for both of you."

"A_ menu?!!_" This coming from Shyoko, of course. Fuji simply smiled, knowing that his favourite drink, at least, would be on his daily diet now.

"It'll help to strengthen your muscles and build up your body." He looked speculatively at their slight frames. "Maybe I should increase the dose..."

-----------------------------------

Shyoko later learned from experience just how unpleasantly nasty Inui's concoctions could be. Her mother had been worried the first time she rushed to the toilet and threw up her dinner into the porcelain bowl, but the next few times soon wore off the novelty.

Upon learning that it was her new diet for the tennis team, her mother shook her head.

"The things kids do these days..."

She finished dinner feeling extremely like a bulimic patient.

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_Do review! I'm really, really sorry if I upset any of you by putting her into tennis, but I figured that since tennis plays such a big part in Fuji's life, she'd obviously have to get involved sometime or other... so I said, "What better way than to throw her headlong into it?" (Well, actually not headlong, but you know what I mean). So, yeah, tell me what you think, and I promise to try to improve!_


	4. Mixed doubles

_I'd like to thank all of you for reviewing, and reading... This is the fourth chapter. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 4**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why_

_You just can't let sleeping dogs lie!_

"Hey, Fuji." She greeted him.

His lips curved into a captivating smile. "Shyoko. Coming for tennis practice today?"

"There's practice _today_?!!" She panicked for a moment before relaxing. "Only for the boys' team. The girls aren't practising today."

"But you're practising with the boys' team now." He stated calmly.

Hands planted on her hips, she turned to face him. "And since when did I become a boy, Fuji Syuusuke?"

"Since you played mixed doubles."

"Yeah, right... _WHAT_?! I have to go for _practice_ today?!!" His smile confirmed her worst fears. "But I didn't bring anything – no racquets, no shoes, no clothes!"

"You can borrow my racquet," He offered.

"And my attire? I can't play in this thing." She looked at her school uniform distastefully.

"Why not? The skirt won't trip you up, will it?" The offending garment was exactly sixteen centimetres above her knees.

"Well, no... but it's so uncomfortable running in this! Maybe I'll just skip practice..."

A wicked grin formed on his face. "Now that you're practising with the boys, you can't slack off that easily. If you do..." He trailed off ominously.

"If I do?" She prompted him.

"Well," He smiled cheerily. "There's always the option of being the first one to try out Inui's juices. I believe he's got a new one – the Deluxe Penal Tea. Besides getting fitter by running at least thirty laps the next practice."

"Okay, okay. I get the idea." She let out a depressed sigh. "I guess I'm just going to have to learn to play in this..."

"You can take it off if you want to." Fuji's eyes were curved in silent mirth, his suggestion earning a death glare from Shyoko.

-------------------------------------------

When she arrived at practice with her uniform, there were a few raised eyebrows and snide comments about girls not dressing decently for the sake of looking good. Her icy glare soon shut them up properly, and she went on the courts feeling extremely satisfied.

Fuji tossed her a light blue racquet. "Let's start."

"Today, you two will be playing doubles against the golden pair – Oishi and Eiji."

She walked to the front of the court. "Remember, Fuji, if we lose today it'll be all your fault."

"_My_ fault?" His voice had a faintly incredulous ring to it.

"Well, it obviously won't be _my_ fault. Besides, I need someone to blame."

"Oh." His smile grew. "Then we'd better not lose."

-------------------------------

"Three games to love. Oishi – Eiji leads. Change court!"

Shyoko, who was getting increasingly waspish due to the sizzling weather and the fact that they were losing badly, hissed. "Stop fooling around, Fuji."

His patience was also running short, though he showed no outward signs of it. They simply couldn't work together. To begin with, neither of them were very clear about which bit of the court was theirs, and reaching the ball just as the other person decided to hit it was extremely frustrating.

"Shyoko, the court is divided into two halves, right? Front and back."

"Yes." She said, feeling like a stupid preschooler. "I know that."

"Well, when I serve, I'll get the balls that land in the back half, while you take those in the front court and vice versa." He said it slowly and clearly, as if explaining something to a very young child.

She shrugged. "Anything you say."

The next time a shot landed in the back half, she forced herself to ignore it, although she readily admitted that turning her back on a tennis ball had never been one of her great skills. But when she barely avoided getting brained by Fuji's Tsubame Gaeshi, she exploded.

"This is ridiculous! How can we play doubles like this? I GIVE UP!!" She threw her racquet down and stormed off the courts.

Fuji, Eiji and Oishi looked after her in bewilderment and shock.

"Nya," Eiji hesitantly broke the silence. "Shyoko's never been this touchy before, ne?" He looked at Fuji.

The blue-orbed tensai let out a deep breath before following Shyoko. _Patience is a virtue... patience... patience..._

-----------------------------

He found her in the tennis club's room, intent on destroying anything in sight.

"Shyoko..." He was mildly horrified at the amount of damage she had caused. She hadn't broken anything, but the room was a total mess. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Nothing, just that I can't play the stupid freaking DOUBLES!" She let out her frustration with an ear-splitting yell.

His voice was calm, soothing. "You'll get better in time. Don't worry, with a little more practice we'll be able to sort this out."

"But the tournament's only two months away!" She wailed.

Cobalt blue eyes flew open in surprise. She did tend to take tennis rather seriously, didn't she? "That's enough time. We'll be able to make it." Inside, he was wondering how he got twisted into the awkward position of defending something he didn't really enjoy in the first place.

She calmed down slightly, surveying the chaos she had caused. The room was extremely messy, with various objects belonging to the team strewn randomly all across the floor. "Uh-oh... how am I ever going to fix this before the rest of the team comes in and has hysterics?"

Fuji smirked, picturing the regulars' reactions if they happened to see their personal space trashed like this. _It would almost be worth it..._

Shyoko sighed resolutely and began picking up stuff.

_Never mind..._ "I'll help you."

--------------------------------------

They found quite a few interesting things while cleaning up the mess.

"Say, whose cat is this? It's so fat!"

"Let me see that." He took the picture from her hand and examined it, chuckling lightly. "You'd better not let Ryoma catch you saying that."

She picked up a book lying on the floor. "Oops... I dropped Tezuka's book."

"Tennis club book? It's not damaged, is it?" She passed it to his willing hands, unaware that she was giving him a golden chance to peek into the contents of Tezuka's constant companion, and possibly more material for blackmail...

"It's just tennis stuff." He said, sounding slightly disappointed.

She gave him an odd look, but her attention was soon captured by a far more unusual object. Slender fingers fished out a red piece of cloth.

"What is – " She gave a bloodcurdling shriek and dropped it like a hot potato.

"Why?" He picked up the offending object and started to laugh. "Red briefs!"

"_Dirty_ red briefs." She corrected him, scrunching up her nose in disgust. "Put it away!"

"But I don't know whose it is!" He objected, not unreasonably.

"Just put it on the table. The rightful owner should have enough sense to claim it."

--------------------------------

When the regulars came in after practice, they were greeted by an unusual sight – a pair of red underwear lying innocuously on the table. Eiji was the first to spot it.

"Nya! Whose is _that_?"

Eight pairs of eyes turned to it. "_Red_ underwear?!!"

Two bright spots of scarlet burned, matching almost precisely the shade of the briefs.

"It seems that the owner's not going to claim it, ne?" Fuji smiled, before suddenly turning to the person at his side. "What's wrong, Echizen-kun?" His voice held a note of affected concern.

His cheeks blazing, he replied curtly. "Nothing."

"Echizen! Are you sick?" Oishi, ever the worrier, sprang into action at once. His hand touched Ryoma's forehead while the other hand felt for his pulse.

"I'm fine, Oishi-sempai." He brushed the other boy's worries aside and stalked to the lockers, glaring at Fuji on the way. Fuji-sempai knew what he was doing. Oh yes, he knew – and by the look on his face, he was clearly enjoying it. If he ever got his hands on Fuji-sempai...

"Echizen," came Momoshiro's teasing voice. "Then why are you so red?"

The only reply was angry silence.

"Perhaps it has something to do with..." He glared extra-hard at Fuji-sempai, willing the brunette to shut up, "the _object_ on the tabletop?"

Eiji finally made the connection. "Nya! Ochibi! That's yours?"

"Echizen, you wear _red_ underwear?"

"I – "

"Echizen wears red briefs..." Inui trailed off into incomprehensible muttering as his pencil flew over the page.

Even Tezuka looked just the tiniest bit shocked.

Ryoma turned, amber eyes glaring angrily at Fuji, who stood there smiling for all he was worth, as if Christmas had come early this year. "Fuji-sempai..." He growled.

"Echizen wears red un – " Momoshiro's taunts were cut off by Kaidoh.

"Fsssh... you're so juvenile."

"What?!! You - !" And they were at it.

Ryoma never wavered from his target. "Fuji-sempai..."

-----------------------------

Shyoko opened the door to find a scene of utter chaos. It was so confusing that she couldn't even see what exactly was happening, just that the regulars were all embroiled in one big fight.

"Regulars!" They came to a halt at the stern voice issuing from the coach. Momoshiro still had a death grip on Kaidoh that didn't look like it was going to be released anytime soon. Fuji was on the floor, with Ryoma's fist stopped halfway in a punch towards the tensai's face, while Oishi was trying to calm an overly excited Eiji down and prevent the whole team from committing homicide. Takashi had somehow gotten hold of a racquet and promptly joined the melee, only stopping when the racquet was accidentally knocked out of his hand. In short, it was total pandemonium.

"What happened?"

"Echizen left his," Momoshiro smiled deviously, "_red_ under – " He was promptly tackled by a furiously blushing Ryoma.

"Ryoma!" The coach's admonishment had its desired effect. He froze mid-tackle. "Explain. Now."

"I – I –" He stuttered, wondering how to explain the scenario without any further embarrassment to himself.

"Echizen-kun left his red underwear on the table." A mellow voice helped Ryoma.

"Oh! It was yours!" Shyoko blurted out, causing everyone to stare at her in surprise, and Ryoma with a certain degree of mortification. "I mean, you wear _red_ underwear?"

Ryoma was by now a very unbecoming shade of beetroot.

"Why, Echizen, you're the exact shade of your underwear!"

"SHUT UP!"

-------------------------------

_Okay, I know this chapter was pure crack - but it was fun writing it though! Review!_


	5. Practice on the courts

_I'm really sorry for not updating earlier, but I came down with a bad case of perfectionism. I've been revising this chapter like crazy, and therefore I proudly present to you the third edition of the fifth installment of "Tensai, Tensai, Tell Me Why"!_

**Chapter 5**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_Your smile looks sweet, but it is sly _

"Chotto sumimasen ga… Yamagawa Chuugoku wa doko desu ka."

The old man looked at her as if she had sprouted sunflowers from her head. After a moment, he pointed dumbly down along the road, eyeing her with evident suspicion.

She walked on, muttering darkly to herself about the eccentricities of elderly folks. And stopped as she saw a signboard at the entrance to an old, deserted building. It read: Yamanaka High School.

"What the - !"

-------------------------------

After about an hour of walking, getting lost, asking for directions, and walking again, Shyoko was just about ready to give up. Even if she ever found the place, she was terribly late by now. Fuji would probably have gone home anyway…

A sudden thud and the appearance of a tennis ball bouncing through the bushes startled her considerably. Surely someone couldn't be playing tennis in the midst of all those bushes, could they? She walked closer to investigate, and what she saw nearly made her scream with frustration.

The courts were right here.

And she'd been walking a big circle around them like a blind man.

She walked onto the courts, surveying the unfamiliar surroundings with a critical eye. Lush greenery encircled the two tennis courts, giving an emerald cast to the entire place.

"This had better be the right court..."

"Shyoko."

She turned at the sound of her name. There, some distance from her was Fuji beaming his ever-present and reassuringly familiar smile. "Fuji! So this is the right place after all, ne?"

"You got lost?" There was a suppressed note of mirth in the tensai's voice.

She gave him a steady look. "Drop it, Fuji."

His smile was positively dazzling.

"So, shall we practice?" Shyoko neatly sidestepped the issue.

"Saa..." Fuji looked around. "Let's start against the wall."

-----------------------------------

Shyoko was fuming. She had gone through all that trouble just to come and play against a _wall?!!!_ "I thought we were going to practice doubles." Her voice was flat.

"We are." His calm answer did not appease her in the least bit.

She took her frustration out on the wall, hitting each ball with force. There was quite an impressive spot on the wall by the time she was done with it.

"You've finished warming up?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, let's start." He stood facing her with his hands loosely clasped. "The underlying foundation for doubles is trust."

Azure orbs flew open, searching her with burning intensity. "Do you trust me?"

She fidgeted uncomfortably under his inscrutable gaze. "Yes..."

"If I told you to drink this," He held up a suspiciously red glass of liquid, "would you?"

She automatically backed up a few steps. "That's under the belt! You know I can't stand Inui's concoctions!"

"Would you?"

Remembering what he had said earlier about trust and doubles, she replied reluctantly, "Yes."

His lips curled into the most evil smile ever seen on earth. "I don't really know that that was a test of trust. But if you say so, I suppose I could sacrifice this chance to try Inui's New Improved Aozu..."

Her eyes widened. "You wouldn't!"

He arched an elegant brow. "I wouldn't?"

"You... you - !"

_Now how do I get out of this?_ "It _is_ about trust." She countered. "I trust that you, as my oh-_so_-responsible doubles partner will not give me anything that may harm me in anyway whatsoever."

"It won't harm you." He looked mildly offended at that suggestion.

"Of _course_ it won't harm me. All it'll do to me is make me vomit my lunch back up, or worse, make me keel over in a dead faint." She rolled her eyes. "Can we just get on with the doubles?"

"I'm trying to teach you here, but apparently the student isn't being very cooperative." He huffed. "But my point is that we have to trust each other to cover for us. For example, if I am at this side of the court," He indicated the right part of the court, "you have to be ready for any shots that come to the left. That's synchronisation."

"Okay."

"Shall we try it?"

He bounced the ball a few times before serving. It glanced off the wall towards her, and she automatically returned it. They practised alternating shots like this for a while until they had gotten fairly good at reading each other's moves.

He caught the ball in his hand and turned to face her. "In doubles, you must understand that you cannot cover the court by yourself. That is why you have a partner. You have to trust your partner to get what you cannot."

As he turned away to serve again, he winked at her. "And _never_ try to steal your doubles' partner's shots."

--------------------------------------

The next day, Fuji pronounced them ready to fight against real opponents, although he suggested avoiding the Golden Pair until they were more experienced.

"Then who do we play?" She queried.

He thought for a moment. "In terms of teamwork I suppose Echizen and Momo would be the best, since we're a little better than them… "

"It's settled, then. Let's play them!"

She failed to notice Fuji's amused expression at her enthusiasism. Clearly, she had never had the opportunity to see the two juniors play doubles before.

-------------------------------

"Two games to love. Change court!"

"Momo-sempai, stop bumping into me!"

"It's not me! You take care of your own side!"

Shyoko looked at them in undisguised horror. "You said we're a _little_ better than them? No one in the world could possibly be worse!"

"Maybe..." He shot her a sidelong glance, remembering their first game. "...or maybe not..."

-------------------------------------------

Needless to say, they won. It was an extremely unusual match, if only because of the hilariously incompatible partnership. It also taught Shyoko a whole lot about doubles. Or rather, how_ not_ to play doubles.

"Do you understand now why trust is needed in doubles?"

She nodded fervently. "_Definitely._"

He had a sudden urge to laugh at her horrified expression.

----------------------------------------

_Chotto sumimasen... doko desu ka - Excuse me, where is Yamagawa Middle School?_

_I know this chapter is pretty short, but the next one'll be better. I promise!_

_Review, ne?_


	6. Revelations and cramps

_Dedication: To my incredibly fussy and overly-critical aniki, I concede that your advice can, on occasion, be irritatingly right..._ ****

**Chapter 6**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_Your heart skips a beat when she says hi_

"Shyoko, let's go for a quick snack after this."

She started to protest, but he cut her off. "My treat."

They walked off the courts together, steps in perfect tandem as they chatted quietly.

-----------------------------------

Shyoko looked around her, taking in the unfamiliar territory with wide eyes. This busy street with a whole row of small, but posh shops was definitely _not_ her idea of a "quick snack". People walked all around, barely even glancing at them. "Fuji, where are we?"

He looked at her strangely. "We're in Tokyo."

"I know that." She snorted. "Where in Tokyo are we?"

Fuji smiled. "Just wait till we reach there, ne?"

Shyoko sighed. It wasn't like she had any choice anyway... She followed him meekly until he turned abruptly into the doorway of a shop.

"Choose what you want." He told her, before ordering a chocolate sundae with wasabi.

"Ice-cream with _wasabi?!!!_" Shyoko exclaimed.

Fuji shrugged. "It adds flavour."

She shuddered, and turned to choose her own ice-cream. There were, she discovered, many wonderful and weird flavours of ice-cream, but in the end she settled for plain old strawberry. Fuji paid, despite her protestations, because as he put it so succinctly, "Two pieces of paper aren't going to make all that much difference anyway."

He led her out of the shop, much to her surprise, and continued walking until they reached a park. He motioned to a bench under a shady tree.

"Go ahead."

She sat down, and he settled down next to her. They enjoyed their ice-cream in companiable silence, savouring the sweet dessert.

"So," Fuji turned to look at her, "You never told me why you moved here."

She looked at him in some surprise. "Why would I want to tell you that?"

"Because you're my friend." He shrugged.

She smiled slightly, but the smile did not reach her eyes, now brooding pools of mossy-green.

_Dad..._

And suddenly she felt the tears welling up as if it had just happened yesterday.

_Flashback _

"_Honey, your father isn't coming home anymore."_

_Almond-shaped eyes were filled with a slight puzzlement. "But why not? Is he working overtime again?"_

"_He... he's gone. Maybe he'll be happier there..." Her mother watched the rain falling with sad, dark eyes. "Perhaps I should have tried harder..."_

_Shyoko stood there, ashen-faced as the realisation of what happened struck her. "Dad...?"_

_Juiko turned to her daughter, trying to offer what scanty comfort she could. "Don't worry, honey. We'll make it, somehow..."_

_End Flashback_

Shyoko suddenly became aware that Fuji was staring at her with something very akin to concern. Much to her surprise, she realised that she was crying. She tried her best to stop, but to no avail.

Fuji did not say anything, merely drawing her into a comforting embrace.

"Shyoko..."

She looked up into azure orbs.

"It's going to be alright."

And she broke down again. Remembering what her mother had said on that stormy night, and now Fuji was saying it to her...

Her sobs gradually ceased, and she smiled past the veil of tears that misted her eyes. "Thanks, Fuji."

"You wanted to know why we moved to Japan..." She took a deep breath. "Well, here goes..."

--------------------------------------

"... so we decided to move back to Japan, because Mum found a job here. But I think it was really to get away from all those memories..." She gave him a small smile.

"Ah." For once, Fuji's social skills failed him completely. What _could_ he say? But Shyoko, thankfully, didn't seem to expect a reply from him.

"From then on, I always had to be strong, for Mum, for myself. But there were times when I just had to let it out, so I'd cry myself to sleep in the privacy of my room. I think Mum knew, but she never said anything about it." She looked up at him. "This is the first time I've ever told anyone."

"Didn't anybody ask?" He mentally slapped himself the moment the question came out. What was with him with today? Being so tactless...

"They did, but after I proved myself in tennis and academics, it was good enough for them. As long as I achieved the best, no one cared about my background. That's why I worked so hard at my tennis."

"Ah." He felt like an idiot, sitting there just saying 'Ah' at intervals. "But now that you've come to Japan..."

"...I can start over again." She finished the sentence for him.

He smiled at her. "That part of your life is over. Just turn over a new page and start a new chapter, 'kay?"

Her smile was like the sun coming up after the storm.

------------------------------------

"Shyoko!" Fuji greeted her with a cheerful smile. He did not say anything about yesterday, and neither did she, but the smiles they exchanged held a deeper meaning than before. No customary greetings, just a simple curve of the lips that said so much more than words could ever express.

"Fuji – ow!" She let out a sudden exclamation of pain.

"What's wrong?" He was out of his chair and by her side in a moment.

She sat down at her desk, pressing her stomach with one hand. _How could I have forgotten? _"It's nothing."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?"

"Sou ka." She forced a smile, ignoring the ache in her stomach. It was going to come soon, anytime now...

Even so, she was not prepared for the sudden wave of pain which slammed through her body. She gasped slightly, still reeling from the shock. _It's not normally this painful..._ Her smile had twisted into a sort of grimace by now.

"That's it. I'm taking you to the nurse now." He stood up and started to pull her, but she resisted.

"It'll go away soon. Believe me." What she _didn't_ tell him, however, was that it would come back again at intervals.

After much persuasion on her part (and some highly unflattering comparisons to Oishi), Fuji reluctantly left her alone. She busied herself searching for the emergency pills, at the same time trying to distract herself from the pain. _Where is it? I know I packed some at the beginning of the year... _She froze. _Of course! It finished and I forgot to stock up. I remember now..._ That was the result of procrastination, she supposed. And now she was stuck with the pain. _Aw, man..._

All coherent thought left her as a fresh jolt of pain crashed through her body. She was left doubled over, gasping for air as the pain receded to a dull ache. Oh, how she hated being a girl sometimes...

Unfortunately for her, Fuji had seen the whole thing. And being Fuji, he was not about to let it go. "You're going to the school nurse. Now."

"No, you don't understand, Fuji..."

"You're going and that's it."

"Fuji. Listen to me. This is a _normal_ occurrence."

His mouth hung slightly open, and he was about to say something when she forestalled him. "And no, I do not have a life-threatening disease or cancer or anything like that."

"Then?" He was justifiably bewildered.

"It's... oh, never mind. You wouldn't understand anyway."

"Shyoko..." He said warningly.

"It's just that..." She looked around before pulling him down to whisper furiously in his ear. "I've got menstrual cramps, okay? Happy now?"

The blue-orbed tensai sat there in stunned silence. 'Menstrual' was apparently _not_ a word he was prepared to deal with just yet. An image of a red tidal wave of blood rushing towards him nearly sent him bolting for the door.

"Well, you asked for it..." Shyoko smirked, or would have, if the pain had allowed her to do so.

The honey-haired boy did not answer, choosing instead to focus on a neutral object – a certain acrobatic player sitting in front of him. Only then did he realise just how _red_ Eiji's hair was.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

-----------------------------------------

Shyoko was, understandably, excused from tennis practice that day. As she slowly made her way home, she marvelled at how fast she had come to think of Japan as home. It wasn't even a year, and she was already closer to most of her friends here than to any of her acquaintances in England.

"Shyoko!" She looked up to see Atobe smiling at her from under the shade of a cherry tree.

_Perfect day to meet Ore-sama_, she thought wryly. "Hey, Atobe."

"Join ore-sama for a walk?" It wasn't actually a request, more like a command. But she had better things to do today, and if she wanted to get rid of that ache soon, she had better hurry home. After all, she hadn't been let off practice for nothing, ne?

"Sorry, Atobe, but I've got to run. Later, maybe!"

"Ah... are you going home?"

She nodded, and resumed her walk. Only to find that Atobe was walking beside her, as if it were the most natural thing on earth that a Hyoutei student, what more _captain_ of their famed tennis team would be walking side by side with a _Seigaku_ student. A member of the tennis team, no less.

She started to say something, then stopped abruptly and resumed her walk. After all, Atobe _was_ her neighbour, so it wouldn't be all that unusual for him to be walking the same road as her, would it?

Except that his pace matched hers, and she was proceeding along at an excruciatingly _slow_ pace.

"So how has school been, Atobe?" She broke the silence.

"Aa... School has been fine."

They walked on in absolute silence, each immersed in their own thoughts. Which was pretty unusual, especially for someone like Atobe. But Shyoko had other, more pressing needs on her mind, and did not ponder too much on his actions.

"Ah, my house is here. See you, Atobe!" Shyoko almost skipped to the gate, deliriously happy that she would no longer have to put up with that ache that had been occupying her thoughts most of the way home.

"Ah." And Atobe walked over to the next house, for once contemplating something other than himself. Oh yes, Ore-sama was thinking _very_ deeply indeed...

...so deeply that he did not notice he was walking into a telephone pole...

"OUCH!"

--------------------------------

_Review, ne?_


	7. Bath time!

_Finally uploaded chapter seven! _

_Naili - I didn't upload on Sunday cause fanfiction was down, so I uploaded as soon as I can. About Shyoko's father... hehe... you'll find out in time... all in good time, my dear._

**Chapter 7**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_You don't quite meet her eyes when you walk by _

Shyoko smiled happily, towelling the sweat off her body. It had been a particularly strenuous practice, but it was over and she could now look forward to a long, cooling shower at home.

She exhaled slowly before downing the rest of her water. Tennis practice was getting more and more intensive, since the Kantou tournament was just around the corner. Sometimes she almost wished that she was back in the girls' team. But she had a trophy to win, and so she slogged with the rest of the team. Although she did admit to being one of the more vocal protestors when Inui used them as guinea pigs for his new juice.

"Shyoko!" She looked up only to be glomped by an exuberant Eiji.

"Eiji." Her smile could have gone on one of those mega-sized billboards for lipstick. "Aren't you tired?"

"I've recharged!" He announced proudly. "Wanna go for burgers?"

"Hey, Echizen! Eiji-sempai just offered to treat! Let's go!"

The golden-eyed boy looked up at his sempai for a moment before...

"Wait for me, Momo-sempai!"

"Wha - ! Nya! I'll be broke! Hey, you two!" And Eiji took off after his beloved kouhais, leaving a trail of dust behind him.

Shyoko chuckled. Knowing Momo, if she didn't hurry, there would be no more burgers left for her. Not that she actually wanted to put a strain on Eiji's undoubtedly already thin wallet, but it was fun to mix with the other regulars. Besides, team-bonding was beneficial, ne?

A light laugh was heard from her side as Fuji, freshly showered, sat down on the bench. "Aren't you going to take a shower?"

'The girls' toilet is locked." She cocked her head at him. "You know, it's really unfair how I don't get to shower after practice just because I'm the only girl on the team. What wouldn't I give for a cold shower right now..."

Fuji looked on in pure amusement before cutting in with a, "Why don't you use the boys' toilet, then?"

"Use the bo – WHAT? Fuji Syuusuke! You must be out of your mind! I have absolutely no wish to show my... " There was a small pause as Shyoko searched for the right word. ".. body parts to the rest of the team! And the prospect of seeing _yours_ does not exactly fill me with joy."

There was stunned silence around the courts. Apparently people in Britain did things differently from people in Japan. Such as talking about... body parts. Not that Fuji had been much better, but Fuji was Fuji. Over time, people had learnt to expect that sort of suggestions from Fuji. Not that many of his schemes got carried out, anyway.

"This discussion is closed." Tezuka's voice cut in firmly.

"But Tezuka – "

"It is not pertinent to the club's benefit." And _that_ discussion was over in a hurry.

--------------------------------

Unfortunately, it did not spell the end of the matter. Some bigmouth had blabbed it, and the whole school was now talking about the incident.

"...she must be _crazy_ saying that..."

"As if any sane person would pass up a chance to see the tennis team in their..." The girl giggled, "...natural state..."

Shyoko shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe that the whole school was talking about this – not because of the sheer scandalousness of the scene, but because they were wishing that _they_ had been invited into the boys' bathroom. Seriously. But then again, maybe they didn't know what perverts the tennis team was. It was never safe changing anywhere near the tennis team. At the very least you would probably have Inui walking over to collect precious data (though she didn't see how such personal data had anything to do with tennis).

But she had to admit she was glad about the one good thing that came out of it. She got to use the girls' toilet after practice. Sure, she had to lock up and all, but it was worth it. She could never stand being dirty for very long, anyway. It was just too gross to imagine all the sweat drying up and caking on your skin...

"Thinking about a shower?" A mellifluous voice asked.

She didn't even need to turn to see who it was. "What's up, Fuji?"

The prodigy chuckled softly. Shyoko always got that dreamy look on her face when thinking about bath time... much like Eiji and toothpaste. "Coming for practice today? It's our last practice before the tournament."

"I know." Her calm demeanour did not fool Fuji for a moment.

"Nervous?"

There was a barely perceptible hesitation before she replied, "Of course not."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Not at all?"

"Have you done the History homework already?" She ignored his question.

He noticed the change of subject, and a faint smile hovered around his lips. He had got his answer.

-----------------------------------

Horio poked his head into the boys' bathroom. "Ryuuzaki-sensei wants to see Fuji-sempai and Shyoko-sempai now."

"Hai. I'll bring her with me." The tensai answered easily. He finished changing and straightened up. "See you guys later."

One hand carrying his tennis case, he exited with an angelic smile on his face.

--------------------------------------

"Shyoko!" Fuji called. Only the sound of running water answered him.

He knocked again. "Shyoko!"

There was no answer.

He gave up. But instead of waiting, like any normal person would do, Fuji pushed the door open. Much to his surprise, it wasn't locked.

He entered the girls' bathroom warily. There was a pile of clothes near the sink, with some shampoo and a tennis bag. She was obviously not out of the shower yet.

He knocked on the sole occupied cubicle.

------------------------------

Shyoko heard the knocks and froze. "Yes?"

"Shyoko, Ryuuzaki-sensei would like to see us now."

"Coming. I'll be out in a moment." Then a sudden realisation struck her. "Fuji? What are you doing in the girls' toilet?"

"Looking for you." She could almost hear the casual shrug he gave.

She was about to step out of the shower, until she realised that she was clad in nothing more than a soaking wet towel. "Fuji, could you please go out of the toilet for a while?"

"But I like it here." She almost choked upon hearing his answer.

"I need to change!"

"Don't worry. I won't peek."

"Just get out."

"No."

"Go."

"No."

"Go."

"No."

"Okay, fine! Just promise not to peek."

"Why? It's not like you're not wearing anything."

"Just. Do. It." She gritted out, cheeks flaming. It was embarrassing enough to have a _boy_ in the toilet alone with you, what more watch you change. Even if she had a towel.

"Hai, hai." Fuji surrendered.

She opened the door carefully and peeked out. Fuji was standing by the door, his face turned towards her. She immediately pulled her head back in. "You promised you wouldn't peek."

"I'm closing my eyes." He defended.

"But your eyes are _always_ closed!"

"You'll just have to trust me, I guess." He let out a melancholy sigh. "Isn't it terrible how no one trusts each other nowadays? Even doubles partners..."

"Cheap shot!" But she took his word and tiptoed out of the bathroom. She was quite pleased to see that his face was turned away now, and she hurriedly changed.

"Ow!" Her sudden exclamation of pain made Fuji look up to see Shyoko rubbing her toe... half-dressed.

_Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't – _He suddenly found the tiled wall extremely interesting, staring at the swirling patterns until he could memorise them. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get that image out of his head - almost as if it had been seared into his brain.

"I'm done." He started at her voice, a light blush dusting his features.

She smiled, blissfully unaware of everything that had just transpired. "Let's go."

"A-ah." He walked out of the door.

----------------------------------

Fuji couldn't remember much of the trip, except that it took every ounce of self-control to rein in his very vivid imagination. Of course, it didn't help that he had a photographic memory...

" – so don't worry, just do your best." He tuned in to Ryuuzaki-sensei, vaguely aware that he'd been zoning off again. What did she say? Something about doubles... oh yeah, the mixed doubles match was tomorrow. He groaned inwardly. This was exactly what he _didn't _need just before a match.

"Fujiko!" He suddenly realised that an excitable redhead had been trying to get his attention for quite some time. His lips curved automatically into a smile.

"Eiji?"

"Nya, what's wrong with you? I've been calling your name for the past five minutes!" Eiji pouted.

"Sorry, Eiji. I just wasn't paying attention." He smiled at his friend. "What did you want to say?"

Eiji tapped his head thoughtfully. "Hmm... what was it again? Ah, I've got it! I just wanted to wish you ganbatte for your match tomorrow!"

Fuji chuckled. "Thanks, Eiji. You're coming, right?"

"Nya! The WHOLE team's coming, Fujiko!" The redhead declared.

Shyoko, who happened to be walking past, asked, "The whole team's coming to what?"

"To your match, nya!"

She blanched. "The match... e-everybody's coming to watch?"

"Of course! You're representing Seigaku, after all!"

"I'm... representing Seigaku..." The words hit her full force. "**OH, NO!**"

----------------------------------

_Shyoko's gettting a little nervous... ;P_

_Review, ne?_

_Next up: Tennis tournament! Who should I make them face first?_


	8. The First Match

_I'm sorry for not updating for so long, but I've been really busy these past few days. So here's Chapter 8. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 8**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_You always succeed in everything you try_

Shyoko woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the rustling of leaves outside her window. She pulled back the curtains with a wide smile, letting golden sunbeams sweep into her room. As she yawned, the alarm clock caught her eye.

"WHAT?!! I'm going to be late!" She rushed out to the bathroom, leaving her room in a whirlwind of disarray.

Her mother looked at her for a moment, and shook her head. _Children..._

It took little more than a minute to gulp down her breakfast before she was out of her chair and out of the house. The door slammed behind her, only to be thrown open again. Shyoko dashed in, gasping.

"Forgot – my – bag!" Was the hasty explanation before the door slammed again. Her mother rubbed her temples. Really, all that slamming was starting to make her head hurt...

---------------------------

Shyoko reached the courts, gasping and out of breath. Tezuka raised an eyebrow at her slightly dishevelled appearance, but merely told her to go and warm up.

She obediently did some stretching, although the run from her house to the courts was more than enough warm up in her opinion. When she finished, she looked around.

"Where's Fuji?"

"He's not here yet, nya!" Eiji informed her happily.

"WHAT? It's already so late!"

"No, there's still half an hour before the mixed doubles start. 96 chance Fuji will turn up in the next five minutes."

"But – but I thought it started at 8.30?"

"Nine o'clock." Came the prompt reply.

She was quite nearly on the verge of banging her head against the wall when Fuji turned up, strolling in with that eternally present smile on his face.

"I can't believe I _ran_ all the way here only to be half an hour _early_!"

Fuji heard her outburst, and smiled that infernal smile of his. "There's no hurry, Shyoko."

She could have slapped him right there and then.

--------------------------

"All participants please line up!"

Shyoko stood with Fuji. Her stomach was doing flip-flops all over the place, which was never a good sign.

"Nervous?" Fuji whispered.

She shook her head mutely. Then she decided against the evils of lying, and nodded.

"There's no need to be afraid." He grasped her hand tightly. The physical contact was somewhat comforting, and she found herself relaxing a little.

"The first match – Seigaku vs. St. Rudolph!"

Her stomach was acting more like a Mexican Jumping Bean than a part of the digestive system.

-------------------------------

They stood opposite one another, only a flimsy net separating them. While she fought to keep her heartbeat at a normal speed, she observed her opponents.

"Kaneda Ichirou!" That was the boy. Rather diminutive, she thought, but there was no telling what tennis could do to people. Taka-san was one good example.

"And Shizaka Maiko for St. Rudolph!" The girl, now, was an altogether different matter. Well-endowed in the chest area, her build was also pretty impressive, and she looked like a formidable opponent.

"For Seigaku, Fuji Syuusuke and Darika Shyoko!"

The two pairs shook hands with an air of cordiality.

"Best of one set match, Seigaku's Fuji to serve!"

Shyoko took a deep breath. _Focus,_ she told herself. _Nothing exists outside this court._

Fuji tossed the ball high into the air, and brought his racquet down for an ace.

"Fifteen-love!"

------------------------------

Shyoko breathed a sigh of relief. They had kept their service game quite easily.

"Shizaka to serve!"

Shyoko returned the ball with some effort. _That girl sure has power..._

But she had no time to reflect on that newly learnt fact, as a lob came soaring towards her. She leaped into the air with feline grace, her racquet curving in a smooth arc that sent the ball to the opposite forecourt. Kaneda was there, ready to return the shot. But the ball flew to the ground, straight as an arrow. And spun.

And spun.

And kept on spinning.

Before the disbelieving eyes of the spectators and the referee, the ball spun to a standstill, still in the same spot where it had first touched the ground.

There was stunned silence around the court, before they regained their senses enough to talk.

"What the heck was that?"

"Did she just do that?"

"Tell me I'm not going crazy."

Fuji caught her eye, and smiled. There was still a lot he had yet to learn about Darika Shyoko.

----------------------------

They won the match, as expected. Shyoko was ecstatic. Fuji, of course, was happy, but since he always smiled, he just smiled a little wider. The whole team went to celebrate at Taka-san's sushi shop.

On the way, the regulars, especially Inui, kept bombarding them with questions.

"How was it playing against St. Rudolph?"

"What was that shot, Shyoko-sempai?"

Everybody waited with bated breath for her answer.

"I don't rightly know." She confessed. "It's just one of the shots I can do."

"Then let's name it, nya!" Eiji thought for a moment. "How about... ah, I can't think of anything! Suggest something, Ochibi!"

Ryoma pulled his cap a little lower. "Why is it always me, Kikumaru-sempai?"

"How about the Pinpoint Smash?"

They all turned to look at the speaker.

"What's pin-po-in-to, Fuji-sempai?" Momoshiro asked.

"Never mind, nya! It sounds nice!" Eiji was literally bouncing with excitement.

"Pinpoint... Interesting." Inui's pencil flew over the page writing scribbles that only he could decipher. "Do you realise that the two of you will be almost invincible as a pair?"

"Invincible?" Shyoko echoed.

"With that smash of yours and Fuji's Higuma Otoshi…"

Eiji's mouth hung open. "They're both unreturnable!"

Momo finished Inui's train of thought. "Sugoi!"

------------------------------

The regulars dispersed, after promising not to injure themselves in any way. After all, how could they forget when Tezuka was constantly saying, "Yudan sezu ni ikou"?

Fuji walked home, humming softly under his breath. He caught sight of a familiar figure, and brightened. "Yuuta!"

Yuuta turned at the sound of his name, and saw (horror of horrors!) that his aniki was right behind him. He started walking faster, but Fuji simply matched his pace to that of his younger brother.

"The match today was good, ne?"

"Aa."

"Are you coming home today?"

"Aa." _Walk faster._

"Saa, then let's walk home together!"

He groaned. There was no escaping his aniki.

-------------------------------

_**Sugoi** - Awesome!_

_**Yudan sezu ni ikou** - Tezuka's catchphrase meaning, "Let's not get careless."_

_Yes, I know their match was sort of uneventful, but this is just St. Rudolph. Wait for Hyoutei, and then sparks will really fly!_


	9. Fuji Sees Red

_Merry Christmas to everybody out there! I was quite literally bowled over by the reviews I received for the last chapter - thank you so much, everybody! Well, read on and enjoy!_

**Chapter 9**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_You don't like a certain grey-haired guy_

The sun shone brightly overhead, making her squint slightly. She mopped the sweat off her forehead, noting sardonically that she hadn't even started playing yet and a light sheen of sweat already glistened on her skin.

_It's hot…_

By the time she had reached the park, she had abandoned her earlier plan to exercise. Instead, she sat down under a leafy tree, glad for the shade it provided. A slight breeze ruffled her hair. She closed her eyes in bliss, enjoying the feel of cool air hitting her face.

She suddenly snapped to attention, looking sharply all around. No one. _That's funny. I could have sworn I felt someone watching me just now…_

She closed her eyes again and was on the verge of dozing off when she felt that odd sensation again. She whirled around.

"Who's that?" She demanded abruptly.

There was no answer.

"Can't you let me rest in peace?" She snapped pettishly, a little annoyed that her almost-nap had been disrupted twice.

"Talking to empty air, Shyoko?"

She started as Fuji's familiar figure materialised in front of her. Then she levelled an accusing finger at him. "So it was you! Just go away and let me sleep in peace, okay?"

"It was me? What did I do?" Fuji was genuinely bewildered.

"Just stop staring at me!"

"_What?!!_"

--------------------------------

What started out as a simple accusation soon escalated into a full-blown quarrel. Shyoko, apparently, valued her naptime _a lot_.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Yeah, right. I believe you with all my heart and soul." The biting sarcasm in her voice made him wonder how he had never seen this side of her before.

He decided to try a logical approach. "Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. At least give me a fair trial, ne?"

She looked at him for a long moment and much to his surprise, burst out laughing. "It's just so ridiculous!" She sputtered out. "You're asking me for a fair trial because you disturbed me _sleeping?_"

He smiled. Her sense of humour had not quite deserted her yet, it seemed. "Saa, you were going to play tennis?"

She looked at her discarded tennis bag. "Well, I was, but then I decided it was too hot to play... Anyway, I'd probably get a sunburn."

"Aa... shall we go for some ice-cream?" He smiled. "Since it's so hot, an ice-cream should be just the trick to refresh you."

Shyoko glanced at her watch, and said regretfully, "I'm sorry, but I've got to meet someone in about an hour's time."

"Aa." Fuji smiled, thinking nothing more of it.

------------------------------

"Nya, Fujiko, I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat!" Eiji whined, pulling on his friend's arm.

Fuji allowed himself to be led to the nearest food outlet. After all, he could do with a bite too. "Eiji, what do you want to eat?"

There was no reply. He turned around to look at the redhead, only to find that Eiji was looking as if he had just seen a specter. "What's wrong, Eiji?"

"Fujiko! Look over there! Shyoko and – and – "

At the mention of Shyoko's name, Fuji whirled around. What he saw next was something that utterly wiped his smile off his face. _This was who she was meeting with?_

Eiji turned to Fuji to say something, and quite nearly scrambled away in fright when he saw the tensai's face. Cerulean orbs were a seething mass of anger, while pale pink lips were pressed firmly together into a thin line. All in all, it was a very wise thing to stay a safe distance away from Fuji at the moment.

"Fujiko?" Eiji hesitantly asked. The prodigy paid no heed to him, all his attention focused on the table at the other side of the restaurant.

Eiji called a little louder. "Fujiko?"

Fuji took a step forward, a look of uncontrollable fury on his face. Eiji guessed where he was heading and immediately tried to pull Fuji away.

"Fuji!" The tensai was really _very_ strong when he put his mind to it. It was only by virtue of sheer desperation that Eiji managed to drag him out of the restaurant and to a nearby park.

"Fujiko! What do you think you were doing?!"

Fuji struggled in Eiji's grip. "Let me go!"

"Stop it! Are you just going to march up there and beat his brains out?" He stopped as a new idea struck him. "Fuji, you're jealous, aren't you?"

Fuji suddenly seemed to go limp in his grasp. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm not jealous."

"Then why were you so angry?"

But Fuji was not called a prodigy for nothing. One of his specialities was getting out of tight situations, after all."Because she's fraternising with the enemy!"

"Really? Are you sure?" Eiji started dancing around him excitedly. "Fujiko's jealous, nya!"

Fuji decided to drop the subject. Eiji could be really persistent when he wanted to. "Maa, let's go home, Eiji. I just remembered – Yuuta's coming home today."

--------------------------------

"Aniki, what are you doing?"

"I'm throwing darts." Came the terse reply.

"_Throwing darts?!!_" Yuuta repeated confusedly. "Whatever for?"

"To prevent myself from doing something stupid."

Yuuta threw his hands up in the air. _I give up! I always knew aniki was a little weird, but throwing darts at Atobe-san's picture! Really, that takes the cake._

-----------------------------

The next morning, Fuji sat in his normal place, with his normal expression on his face. Eiji watched him carefully, but could not detect any trace of yesterday's anger. When Shyoko arrived, his smile slipped a bit, but he greeted her with the same smile as always.

Shyoko frowned. There was something wrong with Fuji today. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but his smile seemed a little more… forced each time he talked to her. Which really didn't make any sense at all. She shrugged, and went on with her work.

Class went on as usual, and it wasn't until tennis practice that Fuji began to show signs of cracking. If there hadn't been practice that day, he might have got through the day alright. He seriously considered calling in sick for a while, but then realised that the other regulars would suspect something. That was one of the bad things about having an impossibly strong constitution.

The start of the practice wasn't too bad, really. In fact, running thirty laps helped him to take his mind off things. But when he was paired with Shyoko for doubles training yet again, he knew he was in serious trouble.

"Fuji! What's wrong with you? Play seriously!" Shyoko was starting to get irritated, partly by the fact that they were losing abominably when they should have won easily, and also because Fuji was obviously not making _any_ effort whatsoever to play.

Fuji looked at her – and realised that his problem was easily solved. He nodded at her to continue.

The next time a ball came, he imagined Atobe's face coming towards him and took appropriate action with his racquet. Needless to say, they won very quickly after that. Momo and Kaidou had quite a few big bruises when they were unlucky enough to get in the way of the ball.

"Fuji," The said tensai looked up to see Tezuka's unsmiling face. "Come here. I need to talk to you for a moment."

He smiled and nodded, his body on autopilot as his thoughts got distracted _yet_ again by yesterday's incident. He was rudely jerked out of his thoughts by Oishi worriedly placing a hand on his forehead.

"Fuji, are you sick? Perhaps you ought to go see a – "

"No, I'm fine." He brushed off Oishi's hand and went outside, where Tezuka and Ryuuzaki-sensei were waiting for him.

"Fuji," Ryuuzaki-sensei began without further preamble. "Your playing today was not up to par. We expect more from you."

He nodded.

"You need to concentrate, Fuji." Tezuka's voice sounded. "You've never had these lapses of concentration before."

"Is anything the problem, Fuji? You can always tell us if there's anything." That, of course, from Ryuuzaki-sensei. The sky would fall down the day Tezuka asked any of his teammates to share their problems with him.

"Ah, it's nothing. I'll be fine." Fuji smiled reassuringly.

Ryuuzaki-sensei looked at him mistrustfully, as if doubting his words. "Well then, take care."

"I will. Arigatou, sensei, Tezuka." And Fuji walked off, his mind already shooting back to the previous day's incident.

He walked home, looking but not really seeing, instead replaying yesterday's scene over and over again in his mind. He smiled grimly. Atobe would pay for that, oh yes, he would pay _very_ dearly indeed…

------------------------------

"Hello?" Shyoko picked up the phone. "Ah, Atobe! Thanks for yesterday."

There was a faint crackle of static before the reply came. "It was certainly unplanned, meeting like that."

"Definitely unexpected." She agreed.

"I had to make it up to you, after I made you miss your bus." There was a short pause. "You contacted your friend, I suppose?"

"Yes, of course. She said not to worry, and that we could always go another day."

"That's good."

"Well, thanks anyway."

Over at the next house, Atobe replied. "Do itashimashite."

------------------------------------

**_Do itashimashite_** - _You're welcome._

_Yay! I finally finished this chapter! Please do review and tell me what you think! The Hyoutei match will be in the next two chapters or so... I'm still trying to decide who to represent Hyoutei..._


	10. Blackmail with a glass of Inui's juice

_Finally finished Chapter 10! Yay! Although this has nothing to offer in the way of tennis matches, it shoudn't be too boring... I think... _

_Read on!_

**Chapter 10**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_You never say die_

After two days of putting up with an irate Fuji, Eiji decided that he couldn't stand it anymore. Being the tensai's best friend had its disadvantages, too. Being subjected to intense glaring by Fuji's unusually piercing blue eyes, listening to rants that could go on for hours at a time, and even once being made a substitute for Atobe soon drove Eiji up the wall. That was the price of brilliance, he supposed, sooner or later the strain got to you and warped your brain proportionately. And feeling that he had to do something, not just for Fuji, but also for his own sake, he went to find Shyoko.

"Shyoko!" He flagged her down during lunch break.

"Hi, Eiji." She smiled sunnily. "Is there anything I can do for – "

She was interrupted by Eiji dragging her roughly away from the cafeteria. He looked extremely serious, as if he was sent on a do-or-die mission that could decide the fate of mankind. When they reached the roof, he released her, both breathing heavily.

"This should be secluded enough." Eiji said, only managing to add to Shyoko's confusion.

"Secluded enough for what?"

He waved her question off, instead shooting an abrupt question at her. "Why did you date Atobe?"

"Huh?" Came the intelligent reply.

"Your date with Atobe!" Eiji hissed, looking around. On second thought, this might not have been the best place to hold _this_ conversation. Fuji sometimes came here to eat his lunch, and if the tensai caught him at it, he was dead meat.

"What date with Atobe?!" She hissed back, unconsciously slipping into a whisper, thanks to Eiji's secretive attitude.

"On Wednesday!" Eiji couldn't believe that she'd already forgotten about it. Was Atobe really _that_ sub-standard until girls forgot about him taking them out?

"Oh, that? That wasn't a date!"

"It wasn't?" Eiji's head was starting to hurt.

"No, I was supposed to meet a friend, but he made me miss the bus and – " Eiji cut her off halfway. He didn't need to know the details, just that it wasn't a date. He dragged her all the way back to the classroom, where he had left Fuji. Not surprisingly, the prodigy was still there, deep in thought.

"Go tell Fuji it wasn't a date!" He shoved her into the empty classroom save for Fuji, ignoring her demands for an explanation and her many questions. Shutting the door, Eiji proceeded to glue his face to the pane of a window in an attempt to see what was going on.

Shyoko found herself in the classroom, alone with Fuji. The honey-haired boy lifted up his head upon hearing the door slam, and a smile automatically curved on his face as he came forward to greet her.

"Saa... did you need anything?"

"Ah..." Since Eiji seemed so desperate, she'd do what he told her to, although she would definitely want explanations later, even if she had to hunt the redhead down. "Anou... about Atobe..."

Fuji's smile disappeared almost entirely. "What about that?"

Now Shyoko had a mischievous side to her, and for a moment, she wondered what would happen if she didn't do what she was supposed to do. And being a spontaneous person, the next sentence that came out of her traitorous mouth was definitely _not _in her original plan.

"It was a date!"

Outside, Eiji stared at the window in undisguised horror. What did Shyoko think she was doing? Did she want to get annihilated?

Sapphire eyes flew open, pinning Shyoko down.

"It was a _date_." Fuji repeated dangerously.

She suddenly realised what a perilous position she was in, and slowly backed away. There was a moment of silence when no one moved, and the black aura that surrounded Fuji permeated the whole room. Then Fuji's eyes curved back into its usual half-moons, and Shyoko let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She made a mental note never to try something like that again. It was just too hazardous to her health.

_Fuji sure looked pissed like hell... and I'm not quite sure he isn't still..._

She walked out of the classroom, not daring to look back and was immediately accosted by a frantic Eiji.

"Why on earth did you do that? How did he react? Is Fuji mad?" The questions came like a stream of bullets, and she hadn't even had time to answer them when Eiji put his head is his hands.

"I'm gonna die, nya! And it'll all be _your_ fault!" The ever-dramatic redhead moaned. He fully expected to be used as target practice later that day. "Just remember that when you bury me!"

-------------------------

"Saa, let me walk you home today." The blue-eyed boy said with no apparent trace of animosity.

Shyoko looked at him suspiciously. There _had_ to be a reason. But nobody could defeat the tensai when he had his heart set on doing something, which was how she found herself walking beside the road with a smiling Fuji beside her.

"The sky's so blue today, don't you think? It's beautiful."

She looked at him, wondering how he could look at the sky and still walk as gracefully as ever without tripping over something. But then, he was a tensai, after all. She nodded slightly, lifting her gaze to the clear blue sky above. It _was_ very pretty. In fact, it was entrancing – the way the clouds traced fairy patterns across the sky, weaving in and out...

Her pleasant contemplations were interrupted by a sudden sensation of her foot striking a stray stone, making her lose her balance. She shut her eyes, bracing herself for the impact of the paved sidewalk.

But it never came. Instead, she found herself enveloped in Fuji's arms, her head half on his shoulder. His fresh soapy smell assaulted her senses, and she relaxed for a moment, wondering why she hadn't hit the floor yet. When her brain finally registered what had actually happened, she hastily extracted herself from the embrace, her cheeks coloured a wonderful rose pink.

"G-gomen..."

Fuji simply smiled, as if his heart was not banging against his ribcage so hard until it hurt.

They walked the rest of the way home in perfect silence, not quite daring to look each other in the eyes.

"Aa... this is my house." They halted in front of a brown gate.

"Well, I'll see you in school tomorrow." Fuji said, and was rewarded with a nod and a smile. Then he leaned closer to her, close enough for his breath to tickle her skin. Before she could jump back, he whispered into her ear.

"Don't be naughty when I'm not around."

He left her staring disbelievingly at him, deep crimson staining her cheeks. And the blush was _not_ because of the wind.

----------------------------

Fuji did not go home, as expected, but instead waited until Shyoko had recovered her wits enough to go inside the house. Then, he rang the doorbell of the neighbouring house, still not quite believing that he had actually said that to Shyoko. Well, it didn't seem to have an adverse effect, so he pushed it out of his mind, concentrating firmly on his task.

There was a slight buzzing before a voice came on through the intercom. "May I know who this is?"

"It's Fuji Syuusuke."

After a moment, the gate slid open to admit him entrance. He walked confidently past the letterbox and the gate into the lavish compound. Engraved on the classic black letterbox in gold characters were the words: _Atobe Residence._

---------------------------

"Fuji Syuusuke, tensai of Seigaku. What brings you here?" An indifferent voice addressed him. He turned to face the speaker, who was currently lounging in an armchair.

"Atobe Keigo." The smile offered was mere courtesy.

After half an hour of small talk, Atobe finally broached the question. "Surely you did not come all the way here just to exchange pleasantries with me, no matter how irresistible I am."

Fuji fought the urge to roll his eyes, settling instead for a demure, "Indeed."

"Well?"

There was a moment of silence before Fuji cleared his throat and spoke. "I would prefer it if you did not mix so much with... Seigaku students."

Atobe looked confused for a moment. "Oh, if you mean Tezuka, we were simply discussing the upcoming matches."

Fuji fixed him with a piercing stare. "It's not Tezuka and you know it."

Atobe racked his brains, trying to remember any Seigaku student he had interacted with in the past week that could cause such a reaction from Fuji.

"I'm talking about your neighbour."

Light dawned on Atobe. "Oh, Shyoko!" _That's right... I almost forgot she's in Seigaku._ He looked at Fuji. "What about her?"

"You won't date her." Fuji said it simply.

Atobe raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure I won't?"

"Because I say you won't." Fuji's logic was infallible.

"I will date whomsoever I please." Atobe replied haughtily.

Fuji smiled his best 'I'm-going-to-torture-you-until-you'll-wish-you-had-never-been-born' smile. This was usually when his team mates started backing away, not at all eager to be anywhere within ten feet of the prodigy. Unfortunately for Atobe, he did not recognise the warning signs until it was too late.

"You remember the time your mother had a brilliant idea to dress you up as Santa Claus?" Fuji said it casually, almost as if he were discussing something as trivial as the weather. "She decided you were too skinny and stuffed a pillow under the suit to create a perfectly humongous potbelly."

"Wha – how – ? " Atobe spluttered.

Fuji retrieved a photo from his bag, appraising it critically. "You look quite adorable, I must say." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Although shoulder pads and another pillow might have improved it drastically."

Atobe snatched the photo out of Fuji's hand. He looked at it in growing horror, before throwing it down and stamping on it.

"My, my, Atobe, stepping on your _own _picture now?" He tutted reproachfully. "Ah well, at least I have ten more copies at home and the negatives. Then you don't have to pay for the damage. Aren't you just the luckiest guy on earth..."

Atobe looked as if he would beg to differ, but Fuji interrupted him. "Now, don't throw a hissy fit, Atobe... And then there was that time you shaved the front half of your scalp and tied the rest of your hair back. It came out looking rather like a failed attempt to emulate the Manchurians in China, if I remember correctly."

Atobe's eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets. Encouraged by his response, Fuji continued.

"And then that time you – "

"STOP!!!" The grey-haired teen burst out, unable to control his anger.

"Oh, do you need to go to the loo? I can always continue once you're back." Fuji's voice was laced with poisoned sweetness. He was thoroughly enjoying himself by now.

Atobe stood up, towering over the smaller boy. This was going _too_ far.

Fuji looked up from where he was comfortably seated in a plush armchair. "You've got a double chin, Atobe."

Atobe choked, and sat back down abruptly.

Fuji could have collapsed in giggles right there and then. The look on Atobe's face was simply priceless. Then he remembered what he had come for, and his expression turned calculative.

"Do you want this to spread through Hyoutei and Seigaku? Or will you keep your dirty hands off Sh–" He stopped himself just in time, and replaced it with a more general word. " – Seigaku's members?"

When Atobe hesitated, Fuji added, "Of course, I can also send it to Rikkaidai, Rokkaku, St Rudolph, Fudo – "

"I'll do what you want." Atobe gritted out from between clenched teeth.

Fuji bestowed his most winsome smile on the captain of Hyoutei's tennis team. "Saa, I'm so glad we understand each other _perfectly._"

He looked at the other boy, but as nothing else seemed to be forthcoming, he stood up. "Well, I'll just be going then. See you, Keigo!"

Fuji gave a small wave before sauntering out of the room like he owned the whole house.

Atobe reached for his glass of water (he was on a strict no-wine diet until after the Seigaku game) and looked at his reflection on the surface. _I haven't lost yet, Fuji Syuusuke... After all, all's fair in love and war, isn't it?_ He smiled triumphantly and raised his glass to the skies in a show of defiance.

"To the downfall of Fuji Syuusuke!" He downed the liquid in a single gulp, and it was halfway down his throat before he realised that it wasn't water. There was only time to register the fact that it was the vilest liquid he'd ever drunk before he collapsed in a dead faint.

Fuji heard the unearthly scream from a few streets away and chuckled, congratulating himself on a job well done.

----------------------------

_So, what do you think? Review, ne?_


	11. Sealing Higuma Otoshi

_Whew! Finally finished. This is a pretty short chapter, I must say. But the next chapter will make up for it, I promise! I've been rather busy with school this week, so actually getting this up on time is an achievement. I wasn't really sure I could make it. But enough of my pointless rambling. Read on!_

**Chapter 11**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_You're impossible – no one can understand you, hard as they try_

"Ohayou..." Shyoko yawned out a response to Eiji's cheery greeting. She remembered last night, and shuddered. _Stupid Atobe and his stupid screaming..._ Really, he should audition for roles in horror movies. His screams were quite literally the stuff of nightmares.

She saw Fuji, and brightened, hurrying over to him. "Hey, Fuji!"

He smiled down at her.

"Did you talk to Atobe yesterday?"

The unexpected question wiped the smile off his face. _So Atobe squealed..._ "Why?"

"Ah.. it's just that he was ranting at you the whole night long. He probably kept the whole neighbourhood awake last night. I couldn't really make out what he was saying, only your name and something about... _juice_?" A small frown creased her forehead, not seeing the connection between Fuji and juice.

"Oh, we just had a very nice and civilised little chat yesterday," Fuji smirked at the memory. "It was utterly enjoyable."

"Mm-hmm," Shyoko agreed, her attention completely diverted by Eiji's sudden come-from-the-back glomp.

"Practice is going to be longer today, nya!"

Shyoko turned. "Really?"

"Yep!" He nodded his head energetically, inwardly thankful that Fuji had returned to some semblance of normalcy. "Because of the Hyoutei game!"

Whoops. Big mistake.

Fuji's eyes flew open, twin azure orbs pinning him down for a moment. "Who's in the mixed doubles?"

"Oshitari Yuushi and Tamari Ouika." Inui popped up beside them, making Shyoko jump in fright and Eiji let out a startled "Nya!"

Fuji smiled. _It should be pretty easy..._

"We can't underestimate them. Oshitari is known as the tensai of Hyoutei," Here Shyoko looked shocked; indeed, she had never really considered the possibility that there could be other tensais other than Fuji anywhere remotely near Seigaku. "And Tamari is a very experienced doubles player, so you have to be careful of her."

Inui looked at both of them and smirked. "I'd say you've got your work cut out for you."

---------------------------------

"A heavy hitter?!" She could hardly believe her ears. This match was definitely going to be harder than the previous one. "But I'm not a power player!"

"Which is why you will have to use your speed and agility to full advantage during this match. Most power players are heavily built, and they require more energy to move."

"So you're asking me to keep her running until she tires."

"That's right," Inui confirmed. "Drain her energy completely, because Fuji will have his hands full with Oshitari."

As Shyoko turned to go, she was stopped by Inui. "And one more thing. Don't try to smash. Always remember that. Not even your Pinpoint Smash."

She was instantly intrigued. "Why?"

Inui's glasses glinted. "He can do Higuma Otoshi."

------------------------------------

Shyoko trudged home, mulling over the upcoming game. It was going to be a tough one, but how could they win if they couldn't smash?

"Saa, don't think so much, or you'll grow old fast." A well-known voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she snorted, more at the sentiment of the sentence than the speaker himself.

"But seriously, Fuji, how are we going to win this?"

He looked hard and long at her before relaxing into a wide smile, blue eyes twinkling merrily. "With each other."

She smiled, feeling some of the strain slipping away from her shoulders. "We'll do it!"

He intertwined his fingers with her, and added, "Together."

----------------------------------------

It was English, and the class was struggling through "The Faraway Tree" by Enid Blyton. Some, like Eiji, were haltingly reading it out loud, while others simply mouthed the words silently. In short, class was grinding along as usual when suddenly Shyoko burst out, "I've got it!"

Every single head turned to look at her, the teacher's included.

"Whoops..."

The teacher let her off with a stern reprimand not to disturb the class peace again, and she nodded demurely, looking the very picture of innocence. At least, until the teacher's back was turned. The moment the teacher's eagle eyes were looking elsewhere, she poked Fuji.

"Hmm?"

"I've got it!" This was said in a whisper, so as not to attract the unwanted attention of a certain sensei sitting at the front of the class.

"Got what?" Fuji was not all-knowing, it seemed.

"Higuma Otoshi!"

The blank look on his face prompted her to explain further. "I've figured out how to seal Higuma Otoshi!"

Fuji didn't know whether to be overjoyed or to be heartbroken (metaphorically speaking) at this discovery. She had found a way to circumvent Higuma Otoshi?

"How?"

She furrowed her brow. "Well, if you put enough sidespin on the ball, theoretically it should bounce off the racquet out of the court, no?"

He stifled a small chuckle. "Unless you intend to superslice the ball in a clockwise direction, hitting the ball hard enough to neutralise the centripetal force, I'm afraid not."

"Exactly! That's it!"

"May I ask what 'that' is, Darika-san?" A sudden frigid voice coming from above made her look up, only to see the teacher's most unwelcome face.

"Aw, shucks!"

Needless to say, she was forced to spend the rest of the lesson in meek silence after being subjected to an earful of lecturing. The sight of Fuji laughing at her nearly set her off again, but she didn't want to incur the teacher's wrath for the third time. She sighed. Tennis would have to wait until lunch break, it seemed.

-------------------------------------------

"It _can_ be done, I'm telling you!" Shyoko insisted.

Fuji merely looked amused. "What, superslicing the ball hard enough so the next surface it bounces off will cause it to go out?" His tone of light jest spoke volumes.

She turned to face him. "Look, do you want to win this match or not?"

His smile was the same smile he offered to everyone he met. "Saa, who knows?"

"FUJI!!!"

--------------------------------------------

"But as I was saying, it can be done – and I need you to help me do it."

He arched an elegant eyebrow. "How?"

"Meet me at the street courts after practice and I'll show you how."

And she walked away, leaving Fuji staring at her retreating back. As a sudden thought popped into his head, a slow smile began to form on his lips. _Is that a date?_

------------------------------------------

_So how was it? Review, ne?_


	12. It's a date!

_Thanks to everybody who reviewed, and to those who gave very interesting suggestions... I used some of them here... Anyway, just read on!_

**Chapter 12**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_You can't stand people who pry_

Fuji glanced at his watch and let out a sigh. It was only three. Still an hour more to go.

He resumed his pacing, only to be interrupted by a well-beloved voice shouting in frustration. "Can you _please_ stop walking about, aniki? I'm trying to finish my homework here!"

Fuji complied with utmost haste, for about thirty seconds.

"Aniki! If you're that excited, just go now!" Yuuta finally snapped. "Or I'm out of here!"

The honey-haired tensai looked at his younger brother for a moment, before breaking into a wide smile. "Of course, Yuuta! Why didn't I think of that earlier?"

Yuuta shuddered. His aniki was most scary when he wasn't trying to be. Who knew that the renowned prodigy could be so completely undone by a girl?

"Ja, itte kimasu!" Fuji gave Yuuta a big hug just for good measure, and ran out of the door.

Yuuta decided there and then that he would never, _ever_ fall in love.

-------------------------------

Shyoko opened the door to see a familiar brunette smiling down at her. "Fuji! I thought we were meeting at the courts?"

"Aa, but I didn't have anything else to do, so..." He shrugged.

"Come in!" She ushered him to the living room, motioning for him to seat himself on the beige-coloured sofa. "Just give me five minutes, okay?"

He nodded, and as she dashed away to get ready (or so he presumed), he made himself comfortable and proceeded to do some very thorough observations that Inui would have been proud of. His eyes wandered over every inch of the room, finally alighting on the mantelpiece.

Fuji got up and walked over. His fingers touched it lightly, cerulean eyes gazing at the family photo. Shyoko herself in the middle, between her mum and her dad. _Shyoko looks more like her dad_, he mused. _The same hair, and eyes... the nose is definitely from her mum's side, though._

"Let's go, ne?" A voice startled him, and he turned to find that she had finished changing into tennis attire, complete with tennis bag.

"Sure." And they walked out of the house together, after saying a quick goodbye to her mum.

----------------------

"Inui-sempai! What are you doing here?"

Inui turned around, his glasses glinting eerily. "Collecting data on Fuji's date."

"Masaka! Fuji-sempai's on a _date_?!"

Ryoma stared hard at the retreating figures in the distance.

"It's just Shyoko-sempai," He announced calmly.

"Nya! Fujiko's dating Shyoko?! How come he never told me?"

-----------------------------

She got out her tennis racquet, and turned to face Fuji. But he was not looking at her. Instead, he was looking at a seemingly innocent clump of bushes.

"Forgive me, but I need to discuss privacy issues with somebody for a moment." He smirked before walking over to the bushes, with Shyoko trailing along curiously.

-------------------------------

"Fuji-sempai's coming here!"

"Ow! Get off me, Echizen!"

"Baka! Keep your mouth shut!"

"Anou... I don't think we should be doing this..."

"Nya, Ochibi! You're stepping on my shoe!"

"Fssh..."

Ryoma removed the offending foot, and in the process of doing so, overbalanced – which turned out to have dire consequences for all of them, to say the least. He fell onto Eiji, who was quite unable to take the extra weight, and therefore fell onto Inui. The data specialist then managed to entangle himself with Kaidoh, who was busy fighting with Momoshiro. The mass of flailing arms and legs then overran Taka-san and Oishi, rolling out of the bushes and ending up in a very undignified and impressively jumbled heap right in front of Fuji and Shyoko.

There came an assorted muddle of moans and groans as the regulars extricated themselves from the human ball. But they had more pressing matters to worry about than broken limbs.

"And what were all of you doing hiding in a bush, pray tell?" Fuji's voice was simply dripping with honey.

Ryoma tugged his cap lower. Momoshiro shifted uncomfortably, while Eiji looked down at the ground.

"... Ii data?" Inui offered.

-----------------------

After that little incident, in which no one, thankfully, had to go to the hospital, for either physical _or_ mental problems, Fuji decided that it was time to resume their original activity. After all, they hadn't come here just to torture the rest of the team, no matter how much fun it was. He turned to Shyoko. "You wanted to try something?"

"Ah, yes!" She smiled. "This is what we're going to do. You'll feed me lobs, and when I smash, you hit it back with Higuma Otoshi, okay?"

"No problem." He agreed easily, and that was how they found themselves at opposing ends of the court.

Her first few smashes were effortlessly returned, and she started to get a little frustrated. When her next attempts also yielded no results, her enthusiasism level dropped drastically. In fact, she was quite about ready to give up.

Then she saw Fuji's face. The slightly mocking smile was more aggravating than any 'I told you so', and she vowed that she would seal Higuma Otoshi if it was the last thing she'd ever do.

She used a different technique for her next smash. Twisting her racquet violently to give the ball extra spin, she smashed it hard. The ball flew to Fuji's waiting racquet, and bounced off – into the adjacent court.

There was stunned silence for a moment until Shyoko burst out in ecstatic joy. "I did it! I did it!"

Fuji stared disbelievingly at the ball, then at his racquet, and back at the ball again. _It can't be... It must have been a fluke..._

"Let's try it again." His tone brooked no argument.

Shyoko complied willingly. She smashed again, this time rotating her body to increase the spin on the ball. The result was even more spectacular, the ball flying to the courts at the furthest end, where a string of curses was suddenly heard – someone had apparently gotten in the way of the ball.

_It can't be..._ Fuji thought numbly. _A **girl**... broke one of my Triple Counters?_

It was, indeed, the end of the world as he knew it.

---------------------------

Fuji took some time to get over the idea that his Higuma Otoshi could be broken, by a _girl_, no less. But after a few hours, he finally came to terms with the fact that one of his Triple Counters had been sealed, and it wasn't, in actual fact, the end of the world. Life still went on as per normal.

Now that their objective (or at least, Shyoko's objective) had been achieved, it was time to go home. Fuji walked Shyoko home, as befitting the occasion. After all, even if it was a tennis date, it still was a date.

"Now we can win against Hyoutei." Shyoko said confidently.

He waggled a disapproving finger at her. "Getting cocky, eh? Yudan sezu ni ikou!"

And they both cracked up at his imperfect imitation of Tezuka.

They halted in front of her house, both reluctant to say goodbye. Fuji was the first to break the silence.

"Today was fun, ne? Let's do it again sometime."

She smiled. "Sure!"

"Well, then... Ja, mata ashita!" And he leaned down swiftly, his lips brushing her cheek for the briefest of moments before he straightened.

"Bye!"

He left her standing there as if she had just been turned into stone. He himself did not dare to look back, and he was glad that the darkness obscured the scarlet colour of his cheeks.

But if he _had_ looked back, he would have seen her slowly, disbelievingly, put her hand to her cheek, and the lovely flush on her face could have rivalled his.

-----------------------

_**Itte kimasu** – literal translation: "I'm leaving now but I'll come back"; said when leaving one's home_

_**Masaka** – exclamation: "Surely not!"_

_**Ja, mata ashita** – literally translated, "Well, till tomorrow!", also carrying the meaning of "See you tomorrow"_

_Okay, okay, I know this chapter is pretty sappy, but what can I say? Perhaps I watched too many sad tv shows this week... Oh, and the Hyoutei match should be coming up soon... stay tuned!_

_Review, ne?_


	13. The Hyoutei Match

_Yeah! Finally - the Hyoutei match! _

**Chapter 13**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why _

_When you're with her you can touch the sky_

_Today's the big day..._

Shyoko jumped out of bed, greeted her mother with a cheery smile and bolted down her breakfast at such an alarming speed that her mother was quite sure she'd get indigestion, before bouncing out of the door with all the nervous energy of a wound-up spring.

Actually, she didn't.

The first thing she did when she woke up was to yawn sleepily, noting through heavy-lidded eyes that she was an hour early. After a nice warm shower, she ate her breakfast leisurely, exhibiting none of the signs of nervousness she had displayed on the morning of the previous match, so much so until her mother was almost fooled into thinking it was a normal school day. Only when she took her tennis bag did her mother realise that today was _the_ day.

_She seems remarkably relaxed about the match she was agonising about two days ago..._

"Bye, mum!"

---------------------

Shyoko was humming softly, enjoying the cool morning breeze when two familiar voices interrupted her contemplation of the morning air.

"Nya, Fujiko! Matte!"

"Ah, gomen ne."

As she rounded the corner, Eiji and Fuji came into her field of vision, both chatting animatedly. At the sight of the honey-haired tensai, a deep blush instantly overspread her cheeks.

"O-ohayou..."

Fuji was a shade pinker than usual, but he greeted her with his trademark smile.

"Are you ready?"

She nodded vigorously, her eyes twinkling in merriment as she remembered her secret weapon.

"Saa, let's go!"

------------------------------

"Best of one set match, Seigaku's Darika Shyoko to serve!"

From across the court, he saw Oshitari smirk, and his own lips quirked up in response.

_You don't know what's waiting for you..._

Shyoko served, and the match was on.

-----------------------------

"Four games to love, Oshitari – Tamari leads! Change court!"

"N-nani? Fuji-sempai and Shyoko-sempai are _losing_?!"

Inui pushed up his glasses, a distraught Momoshiro next to him. There was something wrong with this scenario. He looked at the pair on the court, seemingly unconcerned about the huge lead their opponents had.

_What are they trying to do?_

--------------------------------

"Maa, Shyoko, give them one more game."

She looked at Fuji. "Isn't that pushing it a bit too far? I mean, what if we lose the last game?"

He chuckled. "We won't, don't worry."

"Are you sure?" She asked quizzically.

"Very." With an affirmative nod, he walked back onto the courts, Shyoko following behind.

-------------------------------

The ball bounced off the court, Shyoko's racquet missing it by mere centimetres.

"Love-forty!"

Her expression was a mixture of despair and frustration; indeed, she looked quite ready to tear her hair out.

"You're getting pretty good at it," Fuji complimented her. "Just don't overdo it, though."

The next ball he returned was exactly two millimetres out.

"Five games to love, Oshitari – Tamari leads! Change court!"

Fuji turned to look at Shyoko. "Are you ready?"

She smiled deviously. "Bring it on!"

His lips curved ever so slightly as he settled into position.

_It's showtime._

-----------------------------------

He returned the oncoming ball with just enough force, causing the ball to blip at the net – onto the opponent's side.

"A cord ball?!"

Tamari rushed forward, her racquet just managing to reach the ball before it touched the ground.

_Not bad... but this is one game you can't win._

A beautiful lob sailed through the air to their side. Shyoko smiled, silently admiring Fuji's ability to manipulate the game so deftly. She jumped into the air, not unlike a tigress poised to strike. And as the ball came, her racquet met it full force. It took only a moment's work to add the necessary spin before she sent it flying back to the other side.

Oshitari was there, waiting with a smirk on his lips. He looked confident – after all, he already knew the outcome. What could go wrong?

Many things, it seemed.

The only sound was the slight rustling of leaves and the soft thud of the ball as it landed in the bushes a good distance away. There was utter silence for a moment before stunned whispers broke out in the crowd.

"W-what happened?"

"She sealed Higuma Otoshi?!"

"Masaka...!"

There was chaos on and off the court before the referee finally recovered his wits enough to call.

"Fifteen-love!"

------------------------------

"Game, set and match to Seigaku!"

"They didn't drop a single point?! Are you serious?"

"I can't believe it! Seigaku crushed us!"

The Seigaku supporters cheered themselves hoarse as the Hyoutei students looked on in pure disbelief.

Shyoko turned to Fuji. "We won!" She sounded as if she couldn't quite believe it herself.

"Yes, we won." He laughingly agreed, before catching her up and whirling her around in a sudden display of elation. When he stopped to catch his breath, he realised that their faces were only inches away from one another, with nothing but air to separate them. Fuji stared at Shyoko for a long moment before he registered what was happening.

"Ah, gomen..." He put her down and backed up automatically, a light blush staining his cheeks.

There was a slight pause as Shyoko finally found her voice. "Daijoubu..."

He smiled at her adorably flushed face, before holding out his hand to her.

"Shall we go?"

-----------------------------

That night, Fuji reflected that Shyoko's hand was very soft, and he really wouldn't mind holding it again. Of course, there was always the danger that he might not want to let go the next time.

And there _would_ be a next time. He'd make sure of it.

------------------------------

_So how was it? Review, ne?_


	14. Confessions

_Sorry for the day-long delay... I sort of trashed the first version of this chapter... Read on!_

**Chapter 14**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why_

_Fate won't pass you by_

Fuji woke up to the sound of birds chirping, and smiled. It was going to be a great day.

------------------------

_Wanna go for ice-cream later?_

He slid the paper to the next desk, tapping his pencil lightly as he did so. Shyoko looked up and read the short note. She thought for a moment, before scribbling something down and passing it back to him with a smile on her face.

_Sure! After practice, then?_

His lips curved into a genuine smile. Giving her a small nod, his eyes had a new sparkle in them as he turned back to the relatively dull subject of pre-war history.

-----------------------------

"Hmm... we haven't tried this shop before..." Without further ado, he pulled her into the ice-cream parlour.

They emerged a few minutes later, each holding a cone in their hands. Fuji's was a suspiciously green colour, while Shyoko had opted for a more normal chocolate and caramel flavour. As they walked along the busy streets, she suddenly spotted a shop selling earrings and hairclips, among other things.

Fuji had his first taste of girlish accessories that day.

"Isn't this just so _cute_?!!!" Fuji looked on, half-amused and half-amazed, as Shyoko pulled out what looked like a glittery hairclip and proceeded to examine it from every angle. It was in the shape of a butterfly, with pale pink crystals shimmering each time the wings moved. Upon closer inspection, it was quite an intricate piece of work, and he started to understand her desire to possess it.

He took it gently from her, and turned over the price tag. Blue eyes opened briefly for a split second upon seeing the rather astronomical price, before curving into half-moons again. His smile wider than ever, he walked over to the counter.

Three crisp bills changed hands, and he proudly presented the hairclip to her.

"Oh, Fuji... you shouldn't have!" Her breath hitched as she carefully took up the prized butterfly, but the radiance she practically exuded told him that it was the best thing he could have done.

He smiled, and retrieving the clip from her grasp, pinned the stray ringlets of chocolate curls up with it. As he stepped back to survey his handiwork, her eyes suddenly caught his, and his heart skipped a beat.

And there came a very unwanted interruption.

"Shyoko!"

Fuji turned to see _Atobe_, of all people, come swaggering down the street like he owned it.

"Atobe." He gave him a serene smile, covering the quite-near-to-exploding temper inside.

The grey-haired boy gave him a curt nod, before turning his full attention to Shyoko. Whom, he noted with some satisfaction, was quite surprised and a little irritated to see Atobe. But then again, that brief flash of annoyance could just have been his imagination...

A big, flashy bouquet of flowers made its appearance.

"Congratulations on the win, Shyoko..." Fuji thought that giving flowers was an extraordinarily gracious gesture of loss. Too gracious, in fact. But before he could send warning signals to Atobe, the rest of the sentence shocked him into utter silence.

"...and happy birthday."

Atobe looked at the pure shock in Fuji's eyes, and silently thanked Yanagi. Data-collecting skills could be beneficial indeed...

-------------------------------

Fuji had gone through the list of impromptu gifts he could conjure up on the spot, and none seemed at all suitable for Shyoko. He nearly burst out laughing at the thought of giving her bath salts, but soon sobered up. Maybe there was still enough time to slip into a nearby shop and buy a gift...

He suddenly stopped walking, as a brainwave hit him.

"Could we drop by my house for a moment? I just need to take something."

Shyoko smiled. "Sure!"

They made a detour to Fuji's house, and as she walked through a leafy avenue, she reflected that Fuji lived in a really beautiful neighbourhood, much like himself.

"Saa, come on in!" Fuji led her to the living room, where he told her to make herself comfortable. "I'll just be a minute."

She was looking around when a young woman emerged from one of the rooms.

"Ah, you're Syuusuke's doubles partner, aren't you?" The light-haired woman gave her a cordial smile.

"H-hai." She smiled back, and wondered what was it about the Fuji siblings that there was always that ethereal quality in their smile. Perhaps it was in the genes.

"Nee-san! You're back early!" Fuji entered the living area, his ever-present smile stretching wider as he saw his older sister.

"We were let off early today..." She explained. "What are you doing, Syuusuke?"

He smiled. "Oh, I just popped in to take this." He held up a small, plain notebook.

"Shall we go then?" He took Shyoko's hand before saying a cheery, "Itte kimasu!"

He was out of the door before Yumiko could even reply with an "Itterasshai". And she couldn't help but wonder what he was up to now.

--------------------------------

They sat down beneath some leafy trees, neither talking much – just content to bask in the companiable silence. Presently, Fuji spoke.

"This is for you."

She received the proffered book with a mixture of curiousity and apprehension. After all, who knew what Fuji's idea of a gift might be like?

Flipping through the pages, she caught a glimpse of her own picture and started. A quick scan soon told her that it was a scrapbook of sorts about her. She could feel her face heating up as she thanked Fuji profusely, and wondered at the fact that he actually bothered to make a scrapbook for her.

"Saa, take your time to read it. You never know, there might be something _interesting_ in there…" His smile was suspiciously bright.

She nodded, and made a mental note to read it extra carefully that night. As she stuffed it in her bag, she had a sudden vision of Inui-like information pouring out of the book and flooding her room.

Perhaps she should take extra safety precautions – you could never tell what Fuji was up to.

-------------------------

Later that night, however, Shyoko found herself reading far into the wee hours of the morning, spellbound by the story-like quality of the book. Each page held a photo, or a memento of some kind, or even just a simple doodle with some hastily scribbled notes on the margins. It was as if she had just been offered a glimpse into how Fuji's brain worked, and that in itself was the chance of a lifetime. She read on, at times chuckling out loud, sometimes frowning at the most embarrassing moments which Fuji chose to immortalise in this book, and still at other times, blushing. Oh yes, she did a lot of blushing – especially when it came to the handwritten notes and the rather… _imaginative_ doodles. She had never known till now that Fuji periodically drew chibi pictures of them holding hands. They appeared quite often in the book, and she noticed that they grew progressively frequent.

But it wasn't until the last page that she had the shock of her life.

A single word, scrawled so small that it would have been all too easy to miss it.

She turned a deep shade of crimson, quite sure that she was dreaming. _He couldn't have… surely he couldn't mean…_

She couldn't sleep a single wink that night.

-----------------------------------

The next day, Shyoko went to school determined to get the truth out of Fuji. Last night was definitely _not_ an experience she wanted to undergo again. She didn't want to become an insomniac, no matter how novel it might sound. But intending to do something and actually doing it was altogether something different, as she found out that day.

When she caught a glimpse of the honey-haired tensai, she blushed violently and tried to remain as inconspicuous as possible. To her immense relief, he appeared not to notice her, thanks to Eiji's vociferous greeting. But her respite was short-lived. Fuji turned to her, the usual smile firmly in place.

"Ohayou."

She forced herself not to stammer as she replied his greeting.

"Saa, how did you celebrate your birthday yesterday?"

"Oh, nothing much, really. Just a cake and some candles." She shrugged; birthdays weren't a big occasion in her family.

"Really? It was your birthday yesterday?!" Eiji bounced excitedly. "Let's sing a belated birthday song to Shyoko, nya!"

And the more the class sang, the lower she sunk into her seat, wishing that she could disappear into the floor. She had never liked to be in the limelight anyway.

She shot a glance at Fuji, and immediately regretted doing so, for the soft smile on his face as he sang along ensured that her cheeks remained a rosy pink for the rest of the lesson.

------------------------------------

Finally, she gathered up enough courage to pull Fuji aside during lunch break. She dragged him into an empty corridor nearby, disregarding his unspoken question.

"Explain this to me, Fuji Syuusuke!" Panting slightly from the exertion, she pointed to the incriminating word in the notebook.

Fuji glanced at it, and froze. _How could I have forgotten…?! I knew I should have checked before I gave it to her… Now what?_

"I – I…" He tried to find a suitable explanation to salvage the situation.

"…I was practising my kanji!"

That had to be the lamest excuse he had ever come up with.

Shyoko, apparently, thought so too. "Fuji Syuusuke! Do you want me to make you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"

Fuji felt his smile fade away. "You want the truth?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "Yes, and stop playing the fool."

"Well, the truth is…" He paused for a moment, debating on the merits and consequences of what he was about to do. But Fuji Syuusuke had never placed much importance on such things anyway, and he chose to follow his instincts instead.

"Well? What – " She was abruptly cut off as a pair of warm lips descended onto her own. Green eyes flew open in shock to meet twin cerulean orbs, and it was only a full minute after Fuji had pulled away that she managed to recover her wits enough to speak.

"Wh-"

But Fuji beat her to it. "Aishiteru, Shyoko."

It was debatable whether the burgundy colour of her cheeks or the pure shock on her face was more comical.

------------------------------------

_**Aishiteru** - I love you._

_So how was it? Review, ne? And any ideas on how you want it to end?_


	15. I'm dating who?

_Saa, the fifteenth installment of this story is now ready. :D Read on, and I hope you enjoy it!_

**Chapter 15**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why_

_What makes your lips twist into a smile so wry_

It was a bright sunny morning, and the world of Seigaku's acrobatic player was perfectly aligned on its haphazard axis until he caught sight of the mixed doubles pair of Seigaku's tennis team. His mouth dropped open, pure shock etched on his features.

"N-nani?!"

The two turned around. There was a moment of silence, before Shyoko spoke.

"Are you alright, Eiji?"

The redhead could only shake his head wildly, no sound coming out of his mouth despite his frantic gesticulations.

He finally found his voice. "Y-you two are - !"

Fuji arched an elegant eyebrow. "We are...?"

But Eiji did not stay for any further confirmation. Oh, no, not Eiji. He just _had_ to tell this to Oishi. And Momo. Maybe Ochibi, too! If not, he'd practically burst.

Shyoko looked bewilderedly after the fleeing redhead before shrugging.

"Anyway," She turned back to Fuji. "You were saying...?"

"Ah, yes." Fuji smiled. "Since the coefficient of y is 3x, you shift it over to this side..."

And the two heads bent down again over the Maths book, oblivious to the storm that was about to befall them.

------------------------------

As they came to the courts for afternoon practice that day – together, though it must be noted that this was a usual occurrence – Shyoko noticed that the regulars were looking at them rather strangely. And that in itself was an understatement.

Eiji started bouncing up and down the moment he saw them, a big, knowing grin spread across his face. Kaidoh turned an interesting shade of pink, while Momo looked undecided as to whether he should tease them or run away before Fuji-sempai started to get really angry. Inui was frantically scribbling data into his trusty notebook. Oishi, ever the worrier, had more creases on his forehead than she had ever seen in her life, and Taka-san blushed and stammered out a greeting as he caught sight of them. The only people actually acting _normal_ were Tezuka and Ryoma, of whom the former had his usual poker face on while the capped first-year simply looked extremely disinterested.

Shyoko broke the awkward silence. "What's going on?"

"Nothing!" The reply came too fast to be sincere.

She looked at them suspiciously, but they were saved from further questioning by Tezuka's order to start practising.

"Nya, Shyoko," Eiji said as he passed her, a big smile adorning his face, "Congratulations!"

She was starting to get very confused. "For what?"

"For getting together…" He gave her a conspiratory smile, ignoring Momo's silent pleas not to get them all annihilated by Fuji-sempai for discussing his personal love life in public.

Shyoko began to wonder if she had woken up in a parallel universe. This was _not _making sense at all. "Getting what together?"

"Nya, there's no need to be shy," Came the cheerful reply.

She stared at him for a moment, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. _All that Maths this morning must have addled my brain…_ She walked over to her doubles partner, who seemed to be the only person she could get any sense out of, and asked, "Do you have any idea what they're talking about?"

Fuji smiled mischievously. "What who's talking about?"

She had to curb the sudden urge to go bang her head against the nearest wall.

-------------------------------------

"Fuji, Shyoko!"

They went over to Ryuuzaki-sensei. "Yes?"

"Your next match will be against Rikkaidai. Although their mixed doubles pair might not be well-known, watch out for them - "

"Especially Kirihara Akaya." Inui butted in, pushing up his glasses as he spoke. "He plays very violent tennis, and we don't want either of you getting injured."

He could have sworn he saw a glimmer of blue behind Fuji's closed eyelids at the last sentence.

------------------------------------

"Shyoko-sempai, I don't mean to be nosy, but..." Kachiro looked like he was having constipation – darn Kikumaru-sempai for making him do this!

She smiled at the freshman. "Yes?"

"Ah... Kikumaru-sempai wants to know when both of you started going out!" It came out in a rush, so Shyoko took a few minutes to decipher it. But when she did decipher it…

"When _who_ started going out?!!" Her voice rang out clearly through the courts, causing every single head to turn and stare at them.

Fuji walked over calmly. "What's all this about going out?"

Shyoko, however, was not in the mood to listen to him. "And just who am I supposed to be going out with?" She demanded of the hapless Kachiro.

He shook his head dumbly, pointing to Eiji, who was currently talking animatedly with the other half of the Golden Pair.

She stalked over to Eiji, not caring that she was interrupting his conversation.

"And may I _please _know who I'm going out with?" Her tone was syrupy sweet, but the slight hint of unpleasantness promised of dangers better left unknown.

"Shyoko?" Eiji frowned cutely. "How can you not know whom you're dating?"

"Saa, I wonder too…" Her tone was dangerously sarcastic.

"Ah, you're just joking, right?" Eiji broke into a wide Colgate smile. "Because everyone knows you're dating Fuji, nya!"

Her eyes went as wide as saucers. "I'm dating… Fuji."

Fuji, who, unfortunately for Eiji, had unwholesomely sharp hearing, suddenly stilled. A hush fell across the courts, waiting for one of them to blow up.

A minute passed, and nothing had happened.

Two minutes, and Horio began to fidget.

Three minutes. Still no one moved.

Then, slowly, Shyoko turned to face Fuji. There was a moment in which their eyes met, and Ryoma wondered idly if they practised telepathy.

It certainly seemed possible, the way their lips curved at the exact same moment two minutes later. Everybody let out a sigh of relief, except a certain acrobatic player who appeared not to realise just how close to the brink of death he had come.

"You two _are_ da - !" He was immediately pulled away by Oishi, who feared for his doubles partner's life. Eiji struggled, finally managing to get Oishi's hand away from his mouth. "I know you're dating, 'cause I saw you holding hands!"

"Now we're really gonna die…" Momo muttered. And deciding that he was far too young to say goodbye to this world, he bolted.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

Fuji looked at the now-empty courts, the last tennis club member being a good five hundred metres away. "An utter rout, don't you think?"

Her replying smirk was pure evil. "Definitely."

-------------------------------------------------

The next day, however, was back to the grind, partly because Tezuka had been extremely annoyed about yesterday's disturbance of the practice, and partly because the finals of the Kantou prefecture were coming up.

"Have you ever played Kirihara Akaya before?" Shyoko asked Fuji, retrieving a ball that landed near her.

A small shake of the head was his only reply.

She thought for a moment, before wondering out loud, "What does Inui mean by 'violent tennis'?"

She was about to find out first-hand just how brutal tennis could become.

--------------------------------------------

_So how did you like it? Review, ne? The next chapter's gonna be Rikkaidai! XD_


	16. Halcyon Pair

_Chapter sixteen – and the last chapter… makes me sorta sad that I won't get to write about Shyoko and Fuji anymore…_

_Ja, read on!_

**Chapter 16**

_Tensai, tensai, tell me why_

_Love gives you wings to fly_

"So how did you two get together?" Eiji persisted.

A dark crimson blush crept up her cheeks.

_Flashback_

"_Aishiteru, Shyoko."_

_She stared at Fuji, quite sure that he was simply joking._

_When he didn't say anything else, she began to relax. _

"_You're not serious, right?" She asked, half-expecting to be laughed at for being gullible enough to ask._

_But no such flippant reply came. Instead, his face was as serious as she had ever seen before, azure orbs piercing right through her. "It's true."_

_She was speechless for a moment, before she began backing away. "I'll wake up in the morning and find that it was all a dream, right?"_

_Fuji had a sudden brainwave. Since she persisted in doing this, he'd go along with her._

"_If it was a dream, would it be a nightmare or a pleasant one?" He took a step closer to her._

_She backed away until her back was against the wall. "This is a dream, right? What I say doesn't count because it's a dream…"_

"_Well?" He pressed._

_She paused, and answered, a small blush making its way up her cheeks. "Pleasant dream."_

_He smiled, a genuine smile. Not wasting any more time with words, he caught her up in his arms and placed a soft kiss full on her lips. _

"_F-fuji! What are you doing?!"_

"_Convincing you it isn't a dream," He whispered huskily into her ear, before proceeding to kiss the living daylights out of her._

_When he finally let her up for air, she had a half-dazed, half-wondering look on her face. This was all too surreal to actually happen. _

"_This is definitely **not** happening…"_

_He looked at her. _

"_Oh, but it is," A smirk was the only warning she got before his lips crashed down on hers again._

_End flashback_

"Uh… I don't think you really need to know…" Her flush was in full bloom now.

Eiji pouted. "Nya, Shyoko! Please?"

She looked around and spotted an ice-cream stand, much to her delight and immense relief. "Let's go buy some ice-cream!"

Eiji's face brightened instantly. "Nya, let's go!"

She thanked God fervently for Eiji's infinitely short attention span.

-------------------------------------

"Tomorrow's the finals. Aren't you nervous?" His lips curved into a playful smirk.

She looked at Fuji. "I'm about as nervous as you are."

She was getting pretty good at giving evasive answers - perhaps he was rubbing off on her a little. He smiled at the thought, quite liking the idea.

They came to an abrupt stop as Tezuka passed them. He frowned slightly, having heard their frivolous conversation. It was not good to make light of their opponents, especially not Rikkaidai.

"Yudan sezu ni ikou." He admonished them sternly, and went on his perfectly scheduled way.

They stared at his retreating back, before Shyoko broke out into a fit of giggles.

"Yudan – sezu – ni - ikou!" She gasped out in between chuckles, waggling a reproving finger at Fuji.

Her impersonation of Tezuka was so ridiculous that he soon joined her in near-hysterical laughter. It seemed that Tezuka's statement did not quite have the effect it was supposed to – maybe he was out of practice.

--------------------------------

"Fuji!" She greeted him with a smile, and he responded by casually putting his arm around her.

She frowned. "What did I tell you about behaving decently in public?"

He gave her the most innocent smile he could muster. "Would you rather I kiss you?"

"Fuji!" Her voice was scandalized.

He laughed. "Just kidding, just kidding…"

They walked on, bantering lightly all the way to the courts.

----------------------------------

"Best of one set match, Seigaku's Fuji to serve!"

Fuji bounced the ball once, twice and threw it up into the air. As his racquet strings met the ball with a solid thud, Kirihara smirked from over the other side of the net. This game was going to be so much fun…

-----------------------------------

"One game to love! Change courts!"

Shyoko clasped hands with Fuji, giving him a big smile which he returned. Neither of them were aware of the twin red orbs which tracked their every move, like a hunter tracking its prey…

----------------------------

"Kirihara to serve!"

The only sound was the swish of the ball through the air as he served it – right at Fuji.

"FUJI!"

-------------------------------

Each ragged breath made her wince, and increased her determination to win.

"Fuji, avoid his shots. I'll take them from the other side."

"But you'll be leaving the rest of the court open." He pointed out, not willing to concede himself hurt yet.

She brushed him off. "Don't worry, I'll handle this. Just keep yourself safe."

The next time the ball came straight for Fuji, she was there, ready and waiting. She watched as Kirihara's self-satisfied smirk disappeared, to be replaced by a look of such fury that her insides quailed. Inui's comment came back to haunt her…

"…He plays violent tennis…"

She bit her lip, and vowed to finish this match no matter what.

But Kirihara had other ideas, it seemed.

------------------------------------

It was his turn to serve, and that damned girl couldn't do anything about it. He stood, savouring the feel of such power for a moment, before his racquet came down to execute a perfect Knuckle Serve.

She barely had time to see the ball, much less avoid it. There was a moment of awful silence all over the courts as she slumped down, her tennis racquet clattering to the ground.

In a moment, Fuji was by her side. "Shyoko! Are you alright?"

She looked up fuzzily at him. "Yeah, I'm… alright…"

She struggled to her feet, swaying unsteadily for a moment before her head cleared thanks to the sharp pain in her abdomen.

"Maa, I'm sorry…" They looked up to see Kirihara standing by the net.

"It was an accident." The cruel satisfaction on his face, however, said otherwise.

Fuji stood up, eyes blazing cold fire. "If you ever do that again…"

"If I ever do that again…? Then what happens, pretty boy?" Kirihara sneered.

Shyoko put out her hand to stop Fuji. "Don't bother," She told him quietly.

"Let's just finish this game – and win."

-----------------------------------------

_The ball will be out by two millimetres…_ Inui pushed up his glasses, concentrating very hard on the game. The intensity of the match surprised even him, and he waited for the next serve with his pen poised over paper, ready to scribble any shred of data he could.

Inui winced slightly as the ball hit Shyoko, and he did a quick mental calculation.

_There is a 75 percent chance that she will not be able to continue the game._

He observed, as Shyoko defied the odds, looking none the worse for the shot. But what was _really_ interesting was the expression on Fuji's face. _What was that phrase again? Like... ah, yes, like an avenging angel..._ Inui shuddered, and went back to his scribbling.

_Ii data..._

---------------------------------------

_Fujiko? What's the matter, nya?_ Eiji was seriously worried. The last time Fuji had had that look on his face was when Yuuta got hurt... He shivered at the memory, and huddled closer to Ryoma to drive away the sense of impending doom.

------------------------------------------

_You bastard, Kirihara... you HURT SHYOKO!!!_

He returned the serve with all the strength he possessed, and there was a certain perverse satisfaction in seeing the shock on Kirihara's face as it flew right past him.

But Rikkaidai was not a renowned school for nothing. Kirihara and his partner soon realized that Shyoko was their only hope now. If they managed to break her, then they would win.

----------------------------------------

Seigaku was leading now, thanks to Fuji's logic-defying comeback.

"Match point, Kirihara to serve!"

"Go on, Shyoko…" She muttered, trying to focus on the game. "Just a little more… you can do it…"

The powerful serve came straight for her, and she concentrated all her energy on it – _This is match point! After this it'll all be over…_ – and the sound of the ball hitting the racquet was like music to her ears.

She saw dimly, through a red haze of pain, the ball bouncing, and the sudden gloom on the opponents' faces, and she realized they must have won. But she couldn't find the energy to smile, she was just so tired, and it was so painful…

Fuji's smile crumbled away as he saw her collapse, as if in slow motion, to the ground. His world was spinning, tilting crazily on its axis... People were shouting and yelling, but he didn't care, it didn't matter, nothing mattered except...

"_Shyoko_!"

---------------------------------

"Nya, I wonder – " Eiji was quickly shushed by Oishi, who cast a meaningful glance to the right. Fuji was sitting there, his eyes open yet strangely calm. Fuji was not, in that respect, normal. Others would have been pacing, or even wringing their hands, but he merely sat there and stared. And stared.

And stared.

Momoshiro started to feel just the tiniest bit uncomfortable.

"Fuji-sempai?" He ventured. Maybe burgers might help to comfort his sempai…

Fuji seemed not to hear him, his thumb unconsciously tracing concentric circles on his pants leg.

"Fuj – " He stopped as ice blue eyes turned to look at him.

"Yes?"

"N-nothing…" Momoshiro suddenly wished that there was something more substantial than mere air between him and Fuji-sempai. Thankfully, he was only spared another glance before Fuji turned back to his contemplation of only God knew what.

The sound of the door opening jolted them all out of their thoughts. Fuji immediately sprang to attention, but his unspoken question was answered before he could voice it.

"It's just a little internal bleeding. Give her some time to rest, and she'll be alright."

His smile could have split a ten-foot giant right down the middle.

---------------------------------------------

By mutual consent, they stepped back to let Fuji in first. He was by her side in two strides.

"Shyoko!" He enveloped her in a tight hug, holding her close as if he would never let her go. "You gave us such a scare, fainting on the court like that."

She smiled at the note of reprimand in his voice, and replied laughingly, "I did it on purpose, of_ course_."

But he did notice that two slender arms had tightened around him, and he smiled into her hair.

"If you're done being sarcastic, perhaps – " He was cut off by the extremely noisy entrance of the rest of the team into the room. Shyoko immediately let go of him, and he acquiesced to her unspoken reprove – _We're in public, Fuji!_

But Eiji did not have big, dilated pupils for no reason. He caught their movement almost immediately.

"Ha!"

There was a pink flush on her cheeks as Eiji started going on about how they had been caught red-handed, until Tezuka sent him on laps around the hospital on account of all the noise pollution he was creating.

----------------------------------

Today was the prize-giving ceremony, which had been postponed due to the champions being a little… _indisposed_ at the original time.

"And the winners, Fuji Syuusuke and Darika Shyoko of Seigaku!" They mounted the podium to the hearty applause of their teammates. With one hand each, they grasped the trophy and lifted it high.

"To the Nationals!"

So softly, that only Fuji could hear, she added, "And beyond…"

Their free hands intertwined in between them, and he gave her hand a slight squeeze. They were Seigaku's Halcyon Pair, after all, and they would last - to the very end.

And every end is simply the dawn of a new beginning…

----------------------------------

_Thus endeth the saga of "Tensai, Tensai , Tell Me Why"._

_I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed this story, from the first chapter to this last. Special thanks to shirlynn, who beta-ed this chapter and sacrificed a large portion of her Internet time for this… (see, I did too thank you!)_

_I hope you've been entertained by this, and as always – review, ne?_


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